Super-1303

every morning my 87 4kq has a little trouble starting. what it does is turns over but then sputters at under 1k then dies (thats with no throttle applied). now if i apply some gas(a little more than little) it will rev up and idle like normal.
so does this sound like a dirty fuel filter, bad pump? my brothers 4000 dosent do this so i know its not "normal".

Any ideas?
-Jonathan

AudiSport4000

Mine did that, coolant temp sensor was bad. Now it will do it again sometimes, but not if I give it a bit of gas. My fuel filters look pretty old, I have replacements, just been too lazy to put em on.

Mike

AndrewsQuattros

coolant temp sensor? that is wierd. The 5k did this for months, and still does with the new owner. We just dealed with it, had I known it was simple like that I would have fixed it ! haha

forqueQ

Mine did that, and spewed black smoke indicating a rich mixture (it stained my bumper, in fact). After it warmed up a bit it seemed to run fine. When it got a little warmer, though, it ran like crap again! So I had a 5 to 10 minute period of normal performance.

I then noticed in EKTA a coolant sensor for the fuel injection system - not the themoswitch for the fan which is located on top of the same neck, but the one on the bottom. It was p/n 035 919 369 M, described as "-10/20/80C, 2 pin white". That seemed to fit my problem, so I replaced it and haven't had a problem since. It's about thirty bucks.

But it might be something related to the cold start valve. I haven't had any problems associated with those, however, so I don't know the symptoms of a bad one. I think you just need to clean it, the cold start valve, that is - rather than replace it.

Best of luck.

CoffeeMan

I had the EXACT same problem with my 87 4kq... looked under the hood and found the PO had wrapped electrical tape around the idle controle valve hose to cover up a tear and damn near pinched it shut. fixed it and it idles like a CHAMP now