Hard to start the engine cold

[ians320is]

I'm having trouble starting my car when its cold, it idles very low and has trouble not dying. However once it warms up the idle balances out and is totally fine. I was told I need to replace the "cold start injector" which makes sense, but could it be anything else these seem kinda pricey? Thanks, Ian

[Jeroen]

You can start by testing it! Take it out and see if it works on a cold start. Does it get switched electrically? Be careful with the fuel line that may have become brittle over the years.

[ians320is]

I'm not really sure where its located, what it look like, or how to test it... if you could point me in the right direction that'd be awesome.

[PeteK]

If you have the later intake manifold, It goes into the manifold on the side of the "square block".

If you have the earlier "banana" style manifold, it is just ahead of the throttle butterfly.

[polov8]

The cold start valve, 5th injector, or whatever is controlled by the thermo time switch which shuts off the power to the injector as the engine begins to warm up. so if the injector seems none functional, that's worth testing too. If the roughness lasts longer then the Aux air valve or Control pressure regulator could be your issues. I'm a noob, but I've been messing with VW's with K-jet for nearly 20 years.

This is a good page that shows all the parts of the system and their function:

http://www.lexam.net/peter/carnut/320parts.html

How long does the rough running last? Seconds? Minutes?