WRX STi MY04 Type UK - Starting Problems

[Ross Lyall]

Hi All,

My Type UK Sti struggles to start from cold. its got under 5k on it and its
5 months old. Ill try and explain what happens.

When I turn the key the starter turns the engine over quickly and easily
until the engine starts, when the engine starts it struggles to get to the
choked idle speed at about 1500rpm, it take about 5-10 seconds for it to get
to 1500rpm. My old WRX jumped up to 1500rpm instantly and it had 36k of hard
miles. Recently I noticed that when starting like this if i put my foot
flat on the accelerator the engine (for only the first 45 seconds - min of
running cold) it struggles to get above 3000rpm almost like the spark is
being cut. After it gets going its fine, havn't noticed any drop in
performance when warm and the engine is baby smooth. only when cold does it
hesitate to start then run rough and hesitantly for a min or so. A couple
of days ago it got me more worried as when I hit the right pedal after
starting i noticed smoke from the exhaust, not condensation a small cloud of
smoke that took a while to clear it was only one burst and not continuois.
Its as if the engine is being clogged and it takes a min to blow the gunk
out the way.

Im gonna take it to the dealer at the weekend but could anyone give me any
pointers as to what may be the problem I like to be clued up I suspect a
seal has gone, just hope its not the turbo dont think I could handle running
it in again!!

Ross

 

[Remco]

It could be that one of your injectors is leaking and it thus floods
easily on cold starts. Often if you need to mash down on the pedal to
get a car to start it is because the car has a tendency to flood. Your
smoke out the exhaust is also a giveaway for that condition.

Try running some good injector cleaner through the car with the next
fill up. Some cleaners actually work better on a near empty tank, so
look at the instructions carefully and use the one best for your
situation (i.e. near full or near empty tank).

There are other conditions (cold spark, bad fuel pressure, etc) that
cause this, but putting cleaner through a tank is the easiest/cheapest
way to check for a sticky injector.