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Brand new 3.6L V6 misbehaving on cold start

8K views 11 replies 9 participants last post by  TurboABA 
#1 ·
2015 V6, 700 miles on it. Running Shell V-Power 92 octane. I run the same gas from the same station in my GTI with no issues at all.

Yesterday morning I start up the V6 after it sat in the garage overnight. It starts right up. But after about 5 seconds the engine starts to stumble badly, like it's not getting fuel. RPMs go up and down. After a few seconds of this it stabilizes and is fine.

Ran a VCDS scan: No codes whatsoever. Drove it for an 80-mile road trip, no issues. Rescanned, nothing.

Anyone have an thoughts on this? :-/
 
#5 ·
I had the exact same issue during every winter on my 2012 V6. First start up in the morning engine studdered, you feel the car shake.. After around 30 seconds it went away. Then during day and driving all was back to normal. Was multiple times at the dealer, they couldn't find anything and said all is normal. Replaced the 2012 with a 2014 V6 model and never had those cold start shudders... So to be honest no idea what and if it was an issue as the actual Touareg doesn't behave that way... Perhaps it is normal , perhaps it's not
 
#6 ·
My first thought was well the car was built in October 2014. Originally shipped to a dealer in Bend, later traded to my dealer in Eugene. Could it be "stale" fuel? My dealer did fill the tank on delivery, supposedly with premium. And I've refilled it myself, twice. No immediate issues after the refills, no issues for the first 5 days, then this sudden shuddering.

I got nuthin'. But probably to be continued...
 
#7 ·
Normal. Mine has done this for almost seven years (since I purchased used back in 2009). I think it is the ethanol in the fuel personally or some winter additive. It does it with the winter blend fuel and only when the temp is below 50 fahrenheit or so and the engine is stone cold.
When it does it you will notice (if you start to drive it right away) that it won't do it after shifting to second gear. First gear will surge like a race car with aggressive cam.
The reason I say ethanol (which I don't know if it is for sure or not) is that for a while I added a fuel additive called "Startron" which is supposed to do something with the ethanol for marine engines...bla bla bla probably snake oil BUT it did not do the rough idle when I was using that additive. The additive had no other impact, so I stopped using as I find the rough idle endearing now. It just is what it does :).
 
#8 ·
I have a 2012 with about 85,000mi on it. Same exact scenario, cold start: 5 sec fine > 5-10sec rough misfire > then it's fine. The car has stalled once, and the engine light goes on, but no codes to be found! I am having a series of mechanics look at it for a potential cause. BTW- the rest of the day the car runs completely normal. I am open to any solves people have found:)
 
#9 ·
Hello all..

This issue brings up another observation (sorry). On my T2 with the 3.6, when the ambient temperature drops to about 24 degrees C or below, whenever I start the car after sitting for more than 6 - 8 hours, idle speed immediately goes up to about 1100 rpm or so. It comes back down to normal idle speed after a few seconds, but when the weather is warmer it doesn't do this, which I find weird because my dad's 2016 Passat (2.5 I5) does it regardless of ambient temperature.

Now when the weather is warm and it doesn't fast idle upon start up, I do notice a bit of rough idle for a few seconds, then it smooths out, whereas after the fast idle bit, the idle is smooth right away.
 
#11 ·
Actually we have pleasantly cool weather for about 3 months, from December to March. This is where the temps are usually under 20, sometimes as low as 10 even. April is the under 30 month, or what we know as the last chance. From then on it's air conditioners fighting temps that can reach 50 degrees C in August.
 
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