The battery was leaking and I had it removed and the motherboard cleaned. The local electrician said that it might have damaged the lines to the last two simm banks but he can repair those. Does the lack of battery have anything to do with the cold start issue, or is it just a matter of age? Makes me think of my old BMW 320i ... it had over 200,000 miles on it and everyone used to say, old beamers just burn oil ... is that the case here?