After a long motorway trip my CSR260 won't start

[PipeNslippers]

The car fires up but won't rev past 1,500 rpm and then stalls after 5 seconds with lots of backfires through the intake system?

The car is parked sideways on a slope and had half a tank full

Any thoughts?

[Number31]

I would start by checking the crank sensor.

Number31.

[DCL]

Non starters are notoriously difficult to diagnose remotely, but if it starts and runs for a short period, then my money would be on fuel starvation. The two stage fuel pump is designed to run for short periods with the intake exposed to air, but if it’s been parked at an angle, the fuel reserves in the pump may have been exhausted. Worth moving it to the level, or add more fuel, and see if that helps.

[PipeNslippers]

DCL said:

Non starters are notoriously difficult to diagnose remotely, but if it starts and runs for a short period, then my money would be on fuel starvation. The two stage fuel pump is designed to run for short periods with the intake exposed to air, but if it’s been parked at an angle, the fuel reserves in the pump may have been exhausted. Worth moving it to the level, or add more fuel, and see if that helps.

Moved onto the level and that sorted it.

Just picked the car up today..and showing a quarter full tank on the flat...

Guessing you want the tank filled to the brim for track days as fuel starvation when cornering hard could cause the engine to run too lean and melt something..

Loving the new Caterham experience..just sold my TVR to pay for it...

Thanks for the advice..

[DCL]

Glad you sorted it.

Don't worry about it running lean, as said, it's a two stage pump: a bit like a dry sump, the fuel is "scavenged" from the tank by the first stage into the pump body, then pressurised by the second stage. Fuel is either at the correct pressure or there's no pressure at all - a correctly working pump is unlikely to deliver low pressure for any significant time (that would damage things). Provided the car is moving, some fuel will be slopping around in the tank. It's when the car is stationary, or at a significant angle, for more than a minute or two that you'll suddenly run out of fuel .