[16v] hard start, bucking/bogging off idle

[rogercv1 at gmail.com (Roger concha)]

2 things pop into my head from this. 

1. cold start valve
2. O2 sensor


On Sun, 28 Nov 2004 19:56:07 -0800 (PST), T. Reed <treed2@wsu.edu> wrote:
> Well, my Scirocco finally realized that winter is here and it's time to
> start behaving erratically.
> 
> She was running like a honduh owner to a stack of free decals, up until
> I put the snow tires on. Suddenly, things have gone to crap.
> 
> When I get in and turn the key, the engine spins over at normal speed,
> About every sixth or so 'wuh' in the wuh-wuh-wuh-wuh cranking noise is
> followed by a single firing of the engine. But it takes 1 to 3 sets of
> fifteen to twenty wuh-wuh-wuh's before it will fire twice in a row, and
> start. After that, it seems to idle fine.
> 
> No battery problems are apparent; lights dim when cranking but no more
> than they always have. The torch-soldered 4 gauge underhood wiring and
> grounds are 3 months old. Battery is also only 3 months old. Engine seems
> to crank at normal speed.
> 
> Plug wires seem to be seated fine in the valve cover and on the dist. Hall
> sender and dist are relatively new (~3-4 years old now), the wiring looked
> okay in a visual inspection, coolant temp sender wire hooked up. That's
> all I checked because its 23 F outside and windy.
> 
> Anyway, after it gets started, it does this thing while coming off idle.
> Sometimes, when you step on the gas, it will sound like its trying to
> drive straight up a wall (the engine sounds very loaded down), then if
> you let off the gas it returns to normal and it will usually go if you
> step on the gas again (although 1 in 10 times it will die instead).
> 
> If you just keep your foot on the gas instead of letting off, it will
> typically recover in about 3 to 5 seconds and kind of buck a little,
> sometimes with a little pop noise (not quite a backfire; it might even be
> the motor rocking in its mounts), then accelerate like crap as if it had
> lost a cylinder or two. Letting off the gas and "trying again" seems to
> alleviate the problem 90% of the time.
> 
> I thought at first that it might be due to bad gas from filling up at a
> different gas station than I usually do (or maybe I put 87 in by
> accident). I filled up with Chevron 92 after running it down to 1/8 tank
> or so. It bucked again on the way out of the gas station (expected since
> the old gas was still in the fuel lines), but seemed to run a lot better
> for a while after that. Didn't have the problem at about 8 or 9
> stoplights in a row, so I figured it was gone. But I guess I was wrong,
> because its been happening again, although less frequently and with less
> vigor.
> 
> When cruising at high RPMs the car behaves pretty much normally, except
> about 5% of the time when I mash the gas to pass somebody, it bogs for a
> fraction of a second then recovers immediately. Otherwise, normal
> acceleration, etc.
> 
> So... who's had this problem before? :)
> 
> Where should I look first..? It's too cold to go out there and blindly
> poke around. :)
> 
> Thanks
> 
> -Toby
> 
> BTW this is a 2l 16v with vanilla cis-e
> 
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