Hey guys,

I have an 04 Allroad 2.7T, automatic with 112,000. Recently out of nowhere I'm having a random starting problem.

I can drive it long or short term and park. A few times now it has not wanted to start just turn over. If I floor the gas pedal it will slowly fire up but only keeps running with the pedal held down and misfires. The exhaust then smells like bad cats and is a whiter color. After a minute or two it will clear up and start to run fine as if nothing was ever wrong.

Any ideas out there???? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

A first guess is either the fuel pressure regulator diaphragm is leaking fuel into the vacuum system OR an injector is sporadically sticking/leaking. From your description, I'd lean to the regulator. Pull the vacuum hose off and check for fuel. Should be none. Usually an injector will cause a misfire on start up but not a hard start like it's flooded. They may not leak all the time or not enough to cause any problems when driving as the ecm will sort of compensate for the extra fuel. When you shut the car off, the fuel remains under pressure and will flood the manifold with raw fuel until the pressure is gone. Raw fuel will make white smoke out the exhaust and smell bad, make your eyes water and burn your nose.
If memory serves, the regulator should be on the drivers side fuel rail about half way back.

 

Aspen79,

You couldn't have been more correct!!! It was the fuel pressure regulator! I replaced it with one from ECS for $44.00 and it worked instantly!

Thank you for the help! It's much appreciated!

Now on to my next issue!