GTi 180 - rough first 1min after cold start - ideas?

G'day,
at my second last service, the man remarked that the throttle bodies hadn't been cleaned ever. This is a car that has only had dealer service. Now, there is a definite sparkle after each service.

:thanks:
 
Odd. At 210,000 km, I could still start my GTi (138) from cold on a cold morning from standing outside the driver's door (ie, no throttle input), and have it settle to 800 in under a minute. I'd never expect it to leap away from the kerb at that point, though, so I'd try not to punish it till at least a bit of oil had been splashed around, but it never got the staggers, either. Given that what made the 180 motor different was the manifold and head work, lifters sound like a good place to start if the ECU doesn't tell you anything.
 
Any 206 GTI 180 owners out there whom have a definitive answer for this rough cold start issue? I’m experiencing the same rough start to the day – is this a common trait of the engine. It doesn’t get driven daily unfortunately.
 
G'day,
I shall try.
1. turn key, wait until most of the warning lights extinguish
2. start engine
3. wait, at least 1 minute or until the temp gauges start to move [the longer the better]
4. drive away gently
It is a slow process, but it works.
 
The battery itself is an R & J Batteries MF55 branded AC Delco with no manufactured date stamped anywhere I can see. Good point though - I will get the battery tested.
 
It may be the variable cam adjuster. Get someone to test the codes on the car and they should be able to see if that's an issue or not.

My car has had this problem, never got the really bad idle problems, it is a bit rough.

Got it sorted out and it runs perfectly now :)

Hope this helps.
 
Hello, I had a rough idle at start up and sometimes stalling.

The fix for this was to charge my battery. The battery is now 7 years old and it probably needs replacing, however the charge and regular driving has stopped this problem.

The cold weather could be giving your battery a hard time. Recharge the battery it will cost you nothing. If it fixes it temporarily you'll know if you're due for a battery.
 
I know this might sound obvious, but have you changed the spark plugs? Has oil leaked from the rocker cover into the spark plug tubes, contaminating the ignition coil ends?
 
Hi all this problem cannot be fixed no matter what tune or new lifter you put in the engine,you just have to wait the one minute thirty seconds till coldstart phase is finished. I have had my 180 since 2006 and I too have the tune that magic sells and it is good for power and not leaning out at 7000rpm but the engine being the EW10J4S has an air pump that at start up actually puts O2 into the exhaust tract inside the cylinder head behind the exhaust valves, because of the amount of fuel an engine like this needs below 30 degrees celsius at cold start. This idea is so because when they bought this engine out, the emissions this engine put out was too much, so thus the added O2 makes levels read safe at the end of the exhaust and at the same time helps heat the catalytic converter up quicker. We had a lot of complaints during the warranty period for this ew10j4/j4s engines and some ew10j4 engines didn't come out with the air pump in early 100kw gti so these customers never experienced the fault.
 
180 said:
Hi all this problem cannot be fixed no matter what tune or new lifter you put in the engine,you just have to wait the one minute thirty seconds till coldstart phase is finished. I have had my 180 since 2006 and I too have the tune that magic sells and it is good for power and not leaning out at 7000rpm but the engine being the EW10J4S has an air pump that at start up actually puts O2 into the exhaust tract inside the cylinder head behind the exhaust valves, because of the amount of fuel an engine like this needs below 30 degrees celsius at cold start. This idea is so because when they bought this engine out, the emissions this engine put out was too much, so thus the added O2 makes levels read safe at the end of the exhaust and at the same time helps heat the catalytic converter up quicker. We had a lot of complaints during the warranty period for this ew10j4/j4s engines and some ew10j4 engines didn't come out with the air pump in early 100kw gti so these customers never experienced the fault.
Click to expand...

LOL

Can't be fixed? Hahaha that's funny....
 
I had this issue on my MY05 GTi180. There's even a clip on YT that I posted;

http://youtu.be/5DLXj41LkVo


A complete ECU delete/reprogram fixed it in 2008, via Allan Mackay Autos in NSW. This was after a coil pack was replaced under warranty by Melrose Automobiles in the ACT in 2007.
 
silverware said:
The battery itself is an R & J Batteries MF55 branded AC Delco with no manufactured date stamped anywhere I can see. Good point though - I will get the battery tested.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the informed responses. Battery was manufactured in 2010. It was tested & rated as "good" 12.43v, measured 463CCA\rated500CCA. This was after 4 days of no use & when started this evening required a stab of the accelerator to prevent stalling as per usual. I intend to purchase (the subject of another thread?) a CTEK's MXS 5.0 or Projects Pro Charger battery charger in the future just to keep the battery in tip top condition. Spark plugs replaced at last service 4 months ago. Previous owner's service record had a similar problem with cold starts way back in August 2011. Peugeot diagnostics didn't return a fault code & suggested an overnight stay at the garage... which never occurred. Its only been a problem for me since the onset of colder weather having not owned it long enough to enjoy all seasons!
 
silverware said:
Thanks for the informed responses..............

........Peugeot diagnostics didn't return a fault code & suggested an overnight stay at the garage... which never occurred. Its only been a problem for me since the onset of colder weather having not owned it long enough to enjoy all seasons!
Click to expand...

This is all eerily familiar.

I failed to mention, no fault code ever occurs. It seems to be a software fault hence why the car was 'hooked up' to Peugeot in Singapore (IIRC) to get a complete new ECU program.
 
my 180 suffers from this most mornings. I dont have any solutions to the fault but try turning the car off immediately after starting (start car only after full pump is primed and once oil indicator has finished), and then restart it. this strangely stops the idle problem every time, with out fail. i am not sure what that means from a mechanical sense, but hey it works.

the 180 is a quirky machine!
 
Mine is the same..... want a few mins of idling before moving anywhere.... I did tell the mechanic about this every service time, but have given up on there being an answer.....

Warming up the car is good for it in any case.... So I don't really mind anymore......
 
Just curious if this is something specific to the 206 GTi engine? I read the that 306 GTi6 runs rich on a cold start as well but I can't say I've ever had a lack of power.
 
I wouldn't call my 180 running rich.... its more than that..... If you press the accelerator after starting the engine, it gurgles and splutters, and sometimes even stalls.....

its like this for maybe 2 mins. After that its fine.
 
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