Here's a bit of ill informed theorizing, take it for what it's worth. I think the very early production B20E engines used a different cold start system. The logic was built into the computer, and the computer turned the valve on and off as it saw fit like just like an injector. This meant that the valve ran on 3 volts (or whatever the lower voltage is that the injectors use). After a little while, they removed that function from the computer and instead just used a more direct wiring scheme - with a wire from the starter to a temp switch on the side of the block (above the oil filter) and straight on to the cold start valve - so it would open when cranking with the engine cold. And thus the later model valves operate on 12 volts. I would suspect a later model 12 volt valve woudn't open if it got 3 volts from the computer, and I don't know if it would do anything bad to the computer or not (draw too much current perhaps?).
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I'm JohnMc, and I approved this message.