Starting problemo (odd)

[Solitude]

Chaps.
Again my car wont start.
Tuns, but no fire.
Checked the spark. Fine
Checked the fuel by removing the line from the rail, and pumped plenty into a bottle.

But !!

The car fires up (or tries) when the fuel line is disconnected (routed into a bottle) but as soon as i reconnect, she again just spins, but does not even attempt to fire.

Remove line, again....she wants to start.
Reconnect......nada

Total Guess: Without fuel being pumped into her, she wants to go.....could it be an air problem (no pumping fuel to flood her) so as she stands a chance with what little fuel left in ????????

If you get my drift

Anyone ??

Thanks in advance
Whilst cranking her over, i hear a sound from the plenum area (standing over engine, reaching in to key her) like a tac tac tacking.
Obviously i am normally in the car when cranking, so this may be a normal event ??

[wooly350i]

Tyre type valve on fuel rail,press the centre down when under pressure until fuel hits you in the eye,got one on mine,have you?

[Campbell]

The noise from the plenum could be a loose trumpet, you could pop off the plenum in no time and check.
Is your car a flapper or a hot wire....
Can you hear the pump running and getting fuel out of the line on return.
If your car still has the 9th injector connected i would pull of the connection and connect up the fuel line to a pressure gauge and see whats going on with it when you turn over the car.
I think its a good idea to have a pressure gauge to see whats going on.

Cambelt

[ChimpanLucky]

Hi mate, as we discovered on Tuesday you definitely have fuel & spark.

And removal of one of the plugs confirmed she is definitely flooding.

Remember, when I held the throttle wide open she tried to fire, further conclusive evidence she is flooding.

If she tries to start when you remove the line from the fuel rail it's indicating excessive fuel pressure.

Test again by clamping the flexi line to the rail, she should fire, perhaps even run briefly on what's left in the rail then die as the fuel runs out.

I can't remember if you have an adjustable fuel pressure regulator, but these can be more trouble than they are worth.

Fitting an adjustable fuel pressure regulator was a popular but often ill advised performance mod by owners lacking the skills & gauges to set it up correctly?

If you do have an adjustable fuel pressure regulator it could be Maris Piper tweaked it, you did say the starting problems began after he had it.

We can try & tweak it back to where it was, but ideally the fuel pressure needs checking on a gauge.

Sadly I no longer have my fuel pressure testing kit so we would be working blind, not ideal at all.

Consequently I would be tempted to just put a new standard fuel pressure regulator on it.

Either way, even if you currently have a standard fuel pressure regulator it definitely sounds like too much fuel pressure to me.

Did you by any chance see a bit of black smoke under load or revs when you got it back from Maris Piper?

Bet you did!

Black smoke is another sign of too much fuel, and too much fuel pressure will be the culprit.

I'm up my lockup fettling the Chimp on Saturday, I will try and take a look.

Edited by ChimpanLucky on Thursday 24th May 08:42