Thanks to all who replied.
My friend decided to take the car to a trusted mechanic, the kind who
likes cars and enjoys discussing a problem with the customer, if the
customer is so inclined. He sprayed the coil with a slight mist of
water, and got a no-start situation. Replaced the coil (including the
ignition control module (or whatever it is called in the VW world)
mounted at the bottom of the coil). He then repeated the mist test. This
time the car started without hesitation. The mechanic kept the car over
night, and did a test drive in the early am the following day. No
problem found.
So all good? Not quite. The car now starts on the first try every
morning, but it still cranks a good 5 - 6 seconds before catching (as
opposed to 3 - 5 good 10 second attempts with the old coil). This PM,
after the car had ben sitting for 10 hours or so, I hooked a timing
light to it, connecting to the high voltage wire between coil and
distributor. Again, my friend had to crank for a good 5 seconds before
the engine started. The timing light did not start strobing until just
about when the engine finally started. Any ideas?
TIA
Randolph wrote:
>
> A friend of mine is having problems with her 1998 Jetta GL (Automatic
> transmission). Over the past few weeks it has gotten progressively more
> difficult to start this car in the morning. The starter will crank at
> normal speed, so no lack of battery power, but it takes a lot of
> cranking and several attempts before the engine starts.
>
> Once the engine is running it runs just fine, no hesitation, no loss of
> power etc.
>
> Restarting the engine a couple of hours after it was turned off is no
> problem at all.
>
> Any insight into what this could be? I suspected a leaky injector, and
> suggested that she try starting the car at half throttle tomorrow
> morning to see if this helps.
>
> Any and all suggestions will be appreciated.
--
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http://www.geocities.com/ng_randolph >> Stay informed about: A3 Jetta hard to start 
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