I doubt it.

Fuel, Air and Spark.

The three things a reciprocating engine needs.

You're clearly getting fuel....and eventually spark. Have you checked your air filter and all related intake components?

Also: Are you sure your timing is correct? Do you have VAG COM?

 

I put the new temp sensor on the intake today. I also took the TB off and cleaned it. It wasn't very dirty but it did have some gunk build up. I also noticed that the TB plate had a bit of a gap in it's closed position. It was not entirely closed. Is that normal on these?

 

Could a faulty evap purge valve cause a hard start when cold? I have no engine fault codes.

 

I think my thoughts about the evap valve are way off...so forget that. Would a fuel injector be possibly leaking off into the intake causing a flooding situation? Cyl 3 seems to be wet when cold and I believe most of my misfires involve cyl 3. I'm thinking I might have an injector on 3 that has a very slow leak. This is why I'm thinking it starts when it's hot because it's holding enough pressure...but if I let the car sit for 30 minutes to an hour that is enough time for that injector to leak off into the intake and cause a plug foul...and thus causing the hard start until the fuel clears out. Even still..fuel will clear out faster in a hot engine if fuel leaks into the intake.

 

I have a Rosstech VCDS. If I had a timing issue I should be getting warning errors on the computer about timing issues and I'm not. Air filter is fine, checked that a few weeks ago. I'm going with a slight internal injector leak off into the intake on cyl 3. Need to do a fuel pressure check. Fuel pump is only a few years old + filter and I put a new fuel pressure regulator in it last summer. The only other old components in the fuel system are the injectors. I had the throttle body off today and I believe I smelled fuel. What I should do is take the throttle body off after it's sat over night and see if it has a stronger fuel smell....and a pressure check...although the leak off could be very slow.

 

Put the injectors in, starts better but does not start normally.
Fuel pressure check again + regap sparkplugs?...maybe to wide of a gap.

Does anyone know how to verify computer firmware for 2001 Audi?

 

So I have those stupid NKG Iridium plugs in this car, and no you have to regap them before you put them in your car. The Audi service manual says .32. However, the key word is maximum, it says the maximum gap for an AWM is .32....it doesn't tell you what the optimum gap is for an AWM....another bit of useless German advice. Yes, the car will run at .32 gap...but with Iridium plugs it will start hard when cold at that gap. Yesterday I gaped them at .30 and it took less cranks to start it. I gaped them down to .25 this morning and the ****** started right up. Only Audi would engineer a car to have multiple minor failures all occur at the same time and be so god damn sensitive. So at .25 the ****** starts. The new fuel injector stopped flooding the intake as well....so...I guess the car is fine now. The plugs I had in it were always gaped to wide then when the intake started flooding from the bad injector that's when my troubles began. I'm letting it cool off completely and then I'm going to do another start test to confirm. But at this point I think I'm good...

I would still like to confirm the firmware on this car's computer in case the previous owner was a dumb ******* dick head (I've had to correct all sorts of **** on this car since I bought it). Does anyone know how to confirm your Audi is running the correct computer program?

 

Went out to start the car while cold, after gaping to .25. Still hard to start, but still seems a bit easier to start. What...do I gap down to .20?....this is starting to make no sense. The coil packs are upgraded and new, no reason to suspect issue with the coil packs.

 

problem solved.....fuel pump check valve is stuck open causing high fuel pressure....to high for the FPR to control...therefore it causes the injectors to foul the plugs on cold start. The repair is to replace the fuel pump....