Since I've had my V5 it's not cold started without giving it gas. I got the impression that 'it just happens on some cars', so I didn't bother doing anything with it and everything was fine.
But it never really sat right with me, it's been a VERY long time since I had a car that needed gas to start, and that was a carb driven Nova. So I've always had thoughts to figure out what was wrong.
Since I had a few days off, I finally decided to have a go at sorting it. First idea was to clean the throttle body, it seemed like a fix for a fair few fuelling problems on other cars so I started there. Turned out the throttle body was in desperate need of cleaning, it was caked in hard carbon deposits and general muck and rubbish. So half a kitchen roll and a bottle of IPA later, I finally had a clean throttle body.
Unfortunately, the removal of the throttle body caused a pipe to break in half, a pipe that leads from the top of the engine into the air intake tube. It wasn't caused by the removal, the way it had broke suggests that it was only held together by the tiniest thread of plastic. I posted the part number to Sere to get a new one, and taped up the old one. I put everything back together, and it would seem that my cold starting problems have gone.
It's either going to have been the mucky throttle body messing up the mixture, or this nearly split pipe allowing air into the pipe between the throttle body and the MAF. And as many other people know, a leak at that point in the circuit throws the whole fuel mixture out.
A search online shows a few instances of this pipe splitting and causing poor running, so it's not a one off. It was certainly very obvious, the thing just fell apart as I removed the throttle body! Hopefully it's not too expensive, it seems to be about £40 but that was a while back.
If other V5 owners have trouble with running or starting, I'd recommend looking at the throttle body and the associated plumbing.
But it never really sat right with me, it's been a VERY long time since I had a car that needed gas to start, and that was a carb driven Nova. So I've always had thoughts to figure out what was wrong.
Since I had a few days off, I finally decided to have a go at sorting it. First idea was to clean the throttle body, it seemed like a fix for a fair few fuelling problems on other cars so I started there. Turned out the throttle body was in desperate need of cleaning, it was caked in hard carbon deposits and general muck and rubbish. So half a kitchen roll and a bottle of IPA later, I finally had a clean throttle body.
Unfortunately, the removal of the throttle body caused a pipe to break in half, a pipe that leads from the top of the engine into the air intake tube. It wasn't caused by the removal, the way it had broke suggests that it was only held together by the tiniest thread of plastic. I posted the part number to Sere to get a new one, and taped up the old one. I put everything back together, and it would seem that my cold starting problems have gone.
It's either going to have been the mucky throttle body messing up the mixture, or this nearly split pipe allowing air into the pipe between the throttle body and the MAF. And as many other people know, a leak at that point in the circuit throws the whole fuel mixture out.
A search online shows a few instances of this pipe splitting and causing poor running, so it's not a one off. It was certainly very obvious, the thing just fell apart as I removed the throttle body! Hopefully it's not too expensive, it seems to be about £40 but that was a while back.
If other V5 owners have trouble with running or starting, I'd recommend looking at the throttle body and the associated plumbing.
