Basically got a mk2 coming to me on Friday that can take anything up to a couple of minutes to start when the car is cold or the weather is cold, it has apparently been getting progressively worse to the point where the owner is now worried about getting stranded. I've always had gtis so don't really have a clue where to start testing this, I was going to start by checking the ignition system but I want to be prepared if I have to delve into checking over the carb!
Has the owner owned it for long? Through a previous winter? Reason I ask is that the 2e3 is semi-automatic choke, not fully automatic like the 2e2. Needs priming for cold start by slowly pushing the go-pedal to the floor then releasing, before turning the key to attempt starting. Until this 'reset' is done the choke flap is wide open and it will be very reluctant in these temperatures.
He has had it a long time! He said he presses the accelerator down but not sure if he releases the pedal again afterwards.
Had a very quick look at this earlier as it was dark when I got home from work, started fine after pressing and releasing the accelerator pedal before cranking but it cut out quite a few times unless I really held the revs up for the first couple of minutes
There's a stepped cam that holds a threaded stop to hold the throttle open a chunk at cold start, and then progressively less and less during the warm up. On the side of the carb where the autochoke water pipes go, between the water housing and main body. Give that a hosing with carb cleaner if it looks gunged up and possibly not free to move during the 'reset'. Stepped cam and stop shown with coloured arrows in this pic (ignore the coloured blobs, that's just me being clumsy with the photo editor): Could well be an ignition weakness causing a general reluctance. If any one spark plug looks different to the rest, it could be worth compression testing too?
I took the airbox off and it has a very clean looking autochoke housing on it, I noticed the two notches weren't aligned so I realigned them and then started it, started first time and didn't cut out so going to try it again later and tomorrow morning and see how it goes
