A friend has these symptoms form cold. Anyone care to comment? It's a direct quote from her mail:
"Sometimes it won't start at all without pumping the gas, other times it's
fine first time and stops later on!
This morning it started fine, then stalled at the junction at the end of the
road. To get it started again I have to start the ignition with the
accelerator to the floor, otherwise it won't fire up! Then, once it's going
OK, when I stop at a junction the revs. stay high for a few seconds, even
though I've taken my foot of the gas ..."
The 'not starting without the foot on the gas' bit. Could it be overfueling and stamping on the gas clears the extra fuel when the air rushes through?
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Dave,
Wonder what the car is? Fifteen years ago this was classic auto-choke behaviour. Strangely, from some of the posts here, it seems the ECU software guys have amused themselves with a small "auto-choke" routine for the modern car.
David
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David Woollard wrote:
>
> Dave,
>
> Wonder what the car is? Fifteen years ago this was classic
> auto-choke behaviour.
It's a ford fiesta. Dunno how old. I asked if it's injection no response yet.
So would you recomend a manual choke conversion?
It's intermittant - is that relevant?
PS: Interestingly my Rover 414i has *exactly* her symptoms every now and then. Not enough for me to look into though. Anyone car to comment?
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You could look for hours and you will probaly find a loose wire or air pipe loose or somethink very insignificant causing the problem.Fiestas are pretty basic I think a good look round the basics would not go amissl
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I'd agree with Andy, and give the basics a good check before jumping to complicated conclusions. Vacuum advance pipe or unit leak, contact breakers, engine breather, timing, carburettor loose. Could be loads of simple things.
Regards,
Mike
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Rover 414 problem could be a broken wire inside the stepper motor housing if its' the Single-Point system otherwise look into it being a dodgy coolant sensor. Waiting with trembling mouse for more details on the other car!
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Andrew Moorey (Tune-Up Ltd.) wrote:
>
> Rover 414 problem could be a broken wire inside the stepper
> motor housing if its' the Single-Point system otherwise look
> into it being a dodgy coolant sensor.
Possibly. Problem is the water temp sensor in put on the ECU defaults to a very sensible value where an error occurs - disconecting it alltogether doesn't massively effect the running.
> Waiting with trembling
> mouse for more details on the other car!
None forthcoming. She's tottie. It's intermittent which mean she'll wory abou tit intermittently!!!
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If it's a carburettor model the choke pull-down unit operation should be checked along with the basics, as this would cause over-choking from cold if inoperative.
Regards, Adam
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Dave
In response to your problem - check the manifold heater connection is intact and not burnt out. The high current draw of this PTC heater quite often burns out the Lucar wiring connector. (I take it you have a non cat 1990-1992 Single point model?)
Otherwise, not a lot else goes wrong with these models - the odd ECM fault and crank sensor faults (which prevent the engine starting) is all we see.
Tune-ups are for dealers only (or you Tune-up boys with the right pod!)
Make sure the CO% is set to 1% @ idle for best MPG.
We get even less trouble with MPI Models from late 1992 onwards. The SPI models did appear a little flat but are capable of returning good MPG figures.
Kind regards
David
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David Lacey wrote:
> In response to your problem - check the manifold heater
> connection is intact and not burnt out. The high current draw
> of this PTC heater quite often burns out the Lucar wiring
> connector. (I take it you have a non cat 1990-1992 Single
> point model?)
I feel like Moses talking to God on the Mount... ;-) Yep it's the SPI model.
But I think I've cracked it. On Tuesday I got fed up with the symptoms and had a go myself. I figured that any attempt at fuel injection work was gonna cost me so I thought I'd have a wire wiggling session. I figured I'd sort out the HT CCT as well to give it the best possible chance of starting as well.
I put a new rotor arm in and cleaned the 4 connections in the dizzy cap which were *covered* in white stuff. (fairly recent cap) Then I wiggled all the connections around the Fuel injection; and into the ECU; water temp; intake air temp; (Including what I thought was sensor on top of the inlet manifold - I assume now this is the heater)
Anyway all hints of starting hassles are gone. It bursts into life on all 4 cylinders and no gas. I'm begining to wonder if the *whole* thing wasn't just HT CCT woes.
This still doesn't explain why I had to my foot to the floor just after starting to keep it going - that can't be HT cct can it???
As an aside the NGK plug you recomended for my plug splitting cylinder is still inact after quite a few thousand miles.
> We get even less trouble with MPI Models from late 1992
> onwards. The SPI models did appear a little flat but are
> capable of returning good MPG figures.
My SPI is incredibly economical when I'm easy on the right foot. Problem is it does thousands of motorway miles sitting at 5000 revs and the rest is my 5 minute drive into work twice a day. I love it and when it dies I'm buying another one. (I'll have to now I've spent 50 quid on a roof rack!!!)
Anyway thanks Dave. If the problem occurs again I know exactly where to look!!!
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