2004 CTTS hard starting when cold

[Zakowsky]

OK, so I guess the honeymoon is over - my new to me 2004 CTTS is now taking longer to start when cold. When warm it's usually 1-2 seconds, but after sitting over night it can take around 5-6 seconds. Didn't do that when I got it 3 weeks ago. Is this normal, or should I be checking fuel rail pressure and such?

Also it has started running rough at idle after I have been dogging it around the city, but runs smooth at idle after I blow it out with some hard acceleration.

Another thing is I switched gas lately - I think we have less choices here in Canada, but I went from Esso 91 to Husky 94, which I thought would be better, but the 94 does have 10% ethanol. Could that contribute to the longer start times?

Thanks!

 

[lewisweller]

20 hours ago, Zakowsky said:

OK, so I guess the honeymoon is over - my new to me 2004 CTTS is now taking longer to start when cold. When warm it's usually 1-2 seconds, but after sitting over night it can take around 5-6 seconds. Didn't do that when I got it 3 weeks ago. Is this normal, or should I be checking fuel rail pressure and such?

Also it has started running rough at idle after I have been dogging it around the city, but runs smooth at idle after I blow it out with some hard acceleration.

Another thing is I switched gas lately - I think we have less choices here in Canada, but I went from Esso 91 to Husky 94, which I thought would be better, but the 94 does have 10% ethanol. Could that contribute to the longer start times?

Thanks!

 

Well there is a few possibilities here in terms of train of thought, either the Ethanol (a solvent basically) has lossened deposits of crud from some places in the fuel system and clogged some other places instead or it has damaged some Seals or check valves. 

Or the problem has nothing to do with the Ethanol content in the fuel your using and it's a component failure for example the fuel pressure regulator, or filter(which has a built in check valve which can leak back) or evap check valve leaking, gas cap seal or vent line solenoid purge valve is faulty. Could do with some dtc codes and also I suggest not to use the Ethanol mix for a few tanks and add some injection/fuel tank cleaner and see what's the results. 

[Zakowsky]

Thanks – I tried a tank of Shell V-Power 91, supposedly without ethanol and it was a bit better this morning. Also going to use this as an excuse to blow it out a bit (). I’ll post back after another tank and I see if that was the issue. If not, yeah, it seemed like when the check valve on a fuel pump is letting everything drain back into the tank. I still goes great once it starts! I don’t have a proper Durametric cable yet, but might pick up one of the cheap Chinese versions tonight and at least see if it is throwing any codes.

[Zakowsky]

Just a follow up - I know this is all pretty trivial compared to the issues some people are having here (yikes!) but just wanted to let people know that running 94 octane with 10% ethanol seems to have been the problem. Some Shell V-Power 91 and it starts like it should again. This is in Canada, and our mix is a bit different up here; it's also in a 2004 Turbo S, in case that makes a difference.

[bigbuzuki]

Turbo S models only appeared from 2006 onwards.

[Zakowsky]

7 hours ago, bigbuzuki said:

Turbo S models only appeared from 2006 onwards.

 

Yes, you are correct, of course...from what I can gather, this vehicle was a special order; apparently in 2004 if you threw horrendous amounts of money at Porsche they would build in whatever options you wanted, and the original owner wanted an S engine and got it. This info came from a Porsche dealership based on the VIN, and I have seen reference to one other similar vehicle online. Although I have all the maintenance records, I don't have the original invoice, so I can't be sure; but other than saying Turbo S on the back (which I know doesn't mean much), it will peg the boost gauge (0.8), and then fall back to just a hair under 0.8, and it has the larger brakes and the stock rims are 20" (I have 22" wheels on it now). So it probably more accurate to call it a CTT with an S option rather than a CTTS. Either way, it was built this way by Porsche I believe, and it goes pretty well...

[bigbuzuki]

There was a Porsche introduced power kit with code name IE81 that did convert the stock turbo cars into turbo S variants.

 

It included the upgraded engine ecu, intercoolers, suspension components, brakes.

 

When incorporated, the letter "S" is stamped on the engine block.

 

Ive attached the relevant reference for your info.

 

Edited October 6, 2016 by Loren
Copyrighted material removed.

[Zakowsky]

Wow, thanks bigbuzuki...this make a lot of sense; going to go over this in detail.

 

Much appreciated!

 

[lewisweller]

7 hours ago, bigbuzuki said:

There was a Porsche introduced power kit with code name IE81 that did convert the stock turbo cars into turbo S variants.

 

It included the upgraded engine ecu, intercoolers, suspension components, brakes.

 

When incorporated, the letter "S" is stamped on the engine block.

 

Ive attached the relevant reference for your info.

 

Correct, I have the E81 factory upgrade to 500bhp with larger red brembo brakes all round. 

What mpg are you getting out of the 2004 Zakowsky?

[Zakowsky]

6 minutes ago, lewisweller said:

Correct, I have the E81 factory upgrade to 500bhp with larger red brembo brakes all round. 

What mpg are you getting out of the 2004 Zakowsky?

 

 

Much larger range than I've seen with other vehicles actually. But I did do some tests after getting flack from my Prius driving friends; so my average reads as 13 mpg, but on the highway at 70 mph with cruise control it can actually get 21 mpg. But when I wind it out it can get as low as 10 mpg.

[lewisweller]

15 minutes ago, Zakowsky said:

 

Much larger range than I've seen with other vehicles actually. But I did do some tests after getting flack from my Prius driving friends; so my average reads as 13 mpg, but on the highway at 70 mph with cruise control it can actually get 21 mpg. But when I wind it out it can get as low as 10 mpg.

If I set my cruise to 140km/h and then hit the trip reset I can get 20mpg. 

[Zakowsky]

I hit 21 mpg the other day - but I did have a tailwind!

So another update; the non-alcoholic gas helped, but now the cold weather is coming, it’s getting harder to start again when cold. Like a full 8 seconds of cranking before it catches. Like the automatic choke of days gone by isn't working. Instant start when warm. Runs perfect otherwise, except it gets a slightly rough idle sometimes, which goes away after I nail the throttle a few times. No problem starting after filling up the tank, or any of the other things that get mentioned on line. Going to try injector cleaner, any brand recommendations? I'm in Canada. Thanks.

[lewisweller]

22 minutes ago, Zakowsky said:

I hit 21 mpg the other day - but I did have a tailwind!

 

 

So another update; the non-alcoholic gas helped, but now the cold weather is coming, it’s getting harder to start again when cold. Like a full 8 seconds of cranking before it catches. Like the automatic choke of days gone by isn't working. Instant start when warm. Runs perfect otherwise, except it gets a slightly rough idle sometimes, which goes away after I nail the throttle a few times. No problem starting after filling up the tank, or any of the other things that get mentioned on line. Going to try injector cleaner, any brand recommendations? I'm in Canada. Thanks.

Injection cleaner probably won't help, hot and cold starting with blocked injectors is the same symptoms really. I would be looking at temp sensor malfunction or compression possibly whilst checking spark plug condition too. Another possibility is fuel pressure regulator not holding the line pressure but 8second is still too long to wait the pressure to build up I think. More like 2-3 second to build and then start.  

[Zakowsky]

What I need to do is get a Durametric cable...I bought the cheap Chinese version locally because I needed it right away, but I can’t get it to work, either because of trying to get a Win XP laptop running again or the cable is just broke. I also need to run more tests…it only does it after sitting overnight, or on colds days after sitting at work. This morning I gave it WOT before cranking and it started in 3 seconds. But I don’t think the throttle by wire pedal pays attention to pressure the first crank anyways. So more tests to come. I also have a cold air induction system and an aftermarket exhaust; I thought they re-mapped the ECU to compensate but maybe they didn’t do a great job. I was at a pro-tuning shop though.

[Ewest112]

Pictures please


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Zakowsky]

Sounds like reason enough to post pictures of the beast! I do get it dirty sometimes...this is with the 20" winter wheels on.

Still trying to figure out what the S really means on my specific vehicle - but the positioning is correct...

This is with the summer 22" wheels and spacers.