He wont start

[wildego1]

Please help! I've been checking previous posts and am now more confused than ever.
For the first time ever I started it up this morning (no problem) and instead of letting it warm up I moved it straight out of the garage.
Then I stalled it.
I tried to restart it,the pump primed,turned over O.K.,
nearly caught but not quite. Feeling chastened I left it for a minute or two and tried again, still no luck but petrol fumes now coming out the exhaust.
Left it for half an hour and tried again - Same story.
Pushed it back in the garage, said sorry & went out.
Tried again this evening, still wont have it, nearly caught, maybe one cylinder fired. Ive given up for now in case I make things worse.

Q?- Will petrol going through cats mess them up?

Q?- It's showing all the signs of being flooded, is that possible on a fuel injection car?

Q?- Any ideas on what to try?

I last drove it yesterday but am missing it already.

Cheers Guys!

[HarryW]

Weak spark or fouled plugs maybe .
The fact that it ran yesterday, fired up this morning and almost ran earlier could mean, as you say, it may be flooded, but I would have thought leaving it should have sorted itself out .
I'd try crnaking it with the throttle fully open to see if it breaths life into it, failing that i'd pop the plugs out and give them a clean and try again before I resorted to any proffessional help, RAC maybe .

harry

[UIL9794]

I had a similar problem when i was having starting problems. If it didn't catch the first or second time it then seemed to flood very easily.

The best soluiton i found with out taking the plugs out was to remove the fuel pump relay then crank a few times to cycle the unburnt flooded fuel out - i no it's not ideal for the cats but it seemed to work ok.

But remember to push the relay back in for the fuel pump to work after you're cranked a few times.

hope this helps - if not wait till tonight after leaving it sat for a while - preferably in the sun not in a cold garage as this may help evap some of the fuel

Lee

[GreenV8S]

In the past I've flooded it by trying to start with damp electrics, and with all the leads dried out I was able to start it by leaving it for an hour and then cranking with the fuel pump relay out, putting it back the moment it started spluttering back to life. It ran for several minutes on two, three, four cylinders before eventually picking up on all eight. I did need to jump it off another car to do this though, the battery on its own ran out of puff before it fired up.

In more severe cases you might need to clean the plugs before it will fire. Steve Heath has reported that even this won't do the trick on his race engine and it needs new plugs. New plugs are probably a good bet anyway, and if in doubt warm them up over a gas ring before you put them back, that makes them fire up a treat in cold conditions.

[wildego1]

Started - Smiling again!
Removing the pump relay, cranking,replacing it and trying again did the trick.
However being a plonker meant that I put the relay back on the wrong block's. This of course meant that there was no fuel pump priming at all.
After much head scratching, cursing and general bewilderment, with a steadily draining battery I phoned a very nice man in Compton, Guilford.
Just by my describing the colours of the wires coming out of the blocks, he was able to tell me where I should put the relays back.

So thanks again from one VERY happy and impressed eeriot.