suddenly starts hard
 

my girlfriends 86 190 2.3 8v recently had some intake parts replaced. the car was running rich, getting poor mileage, and refused to idle. my trusted mechanic fixed the problem, and the car ran fine... until i had to start it cold. regardless of it's previous problems, it always fired up hot or cold. now after all this work, including a new cold start valve, it is extremely hard to start when cold. it has to crank for 20-30 seconds, 2-3 times before it will start. once it's hot it idles at 1800-2000. i checked the ovp relay fuse; blown. i replaced it and this did not solve the starting problem, but it does seem to idle a little lower. this car resides in buffalo, and if any of you are in this area, you know we've been getting record low temps. ineed a solution!

thanks for your time.

ps: my vw tdi loves the cold! 5 second preheat!

Try a new OVP relay -- if it's bad, it won't give starting enrichment. so in spite of the cold start valve it will be reluctanct to start.

Also check all the vac lines and the idle control valve hoses for hardness, loose fit, or cracks -- a large vac leak while attempting to start will give you fits, as there will be little or no airflow through the air flow sensor, and thus no fuel. A mis-adjusted fuel distributor will do the same thing, it needs to have the zero flow position set correctly.

Peter