# 1986 5000S won't start



## The Czar (Jul 15, 2008)

Hello,

I've got a 1986 Audi 5000s normally aspirated 2.22L I5, 3 speed auto, front-wheel-drive. I can't get the bloody thing to start reliably anymore, despite being soildly reliable for the past several years. A bit of a back-story, if I may:

I bought the car in 2006, and apart from a few pesky odds-and-ends, it was in pretty good shape considering its age. In 2008, I bought a '92 Eurovan 2.5L I5 with a 5 speed manual and put the Audi in storage while I used the EV as a daily-driver.

Last summer, (August 2009) the fuel pump died on my EV, and while I was waiting for parts and whatnot, I took the Audi out of mothballs and used away at it for about 8-10 weeks with nary a hitch. I had to replace one of the front struts to make it highway-worthy, but other than that, no major problems. I parked it when I got my EV back up and running in about October sometime. The car started on the second attempt without a hitch after being stored for over a year.

This past May I took the Audi out of storage again to use for the summer. It had a quarter-tank of fuel in it from October when I parked it. It fired up without a hitch, and I drove it over to the local gas station and filled it up with fresh gas so I wouldn't be burning entirely stale stuff. I noticed that a couple of times when I had it out and about that it'd stutter a bit, seemingly lose power, but jump right back to life again. I figured it was the stale gas making its way through the engine. However, then it just died on me in the middle of traffic, and wouldn't start again for 5-10 minutes.

What I've determined is that the engine dies when the engine is in the 'operating range'. If the Engine's cold, it'll usually start after a couple of tries, but when it warms up, if you let it go to idle, it will stall out. You've got to keep the revs up in order to keep it going.

Taking the plugs out, though, demonstrates that its flooding quite badly, as the plugs are quite black. When the engine stalls, the engine bay smells strongly of petrol, so I'm assuming its flooding, but I don't know why. 

In my quest to solve this problem I was initially told to check the fuel filter and the pump. I've replaced the filter and the in-tank pump, as the filter was clogged and the fuel line pressure seemed weak. I used a brand-new bosch OEM pump. I've also taken apart and thoroughly cleaned the fuel distributor. The plugs and wires have about 20 000km (12 000 mi) on them, give or take, and I've taken each plug out and tested it individually, and all have plenty of spark.

I was also told to check the coolant temperature sensor by a friend, and when its disconnected the car won't start at all, and if I disconnect it when running the car dies immediately. It also seems *slightly* easier to start in neutral as opposed to park, but I can't say with any reliable estimation how much easier. It may just be wishful thinking.

As you can probably tell, I'm absolutely stumped on this one. Any help would be immensely appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Peter


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## J-Rivers (Dec 23, 2008)

have you checked the spark? running on all cylinders? ground cable from the intake to the bulkhead/firewall that hold the coil?


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## The Czar (Jul 15, 2008)

J-Rivers said:


> have you checked the spark? running on all cylinders? ground cable from the intake to the bulkhead/firewall that hold the coil?


I've tested each spark plug and there's plenty of spark. They're quite black, but they're firing as they should. When the car will start (from a cold-start) it runs relatively smoothly, just a bit rich. I tested that grounding point with my multimeter and consistently got between 12-13V.

Thanks for your input!


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