Starting Problems

[belperowl]

Went to work today in my 1996 4.2 there and back home no problems.

After standing outside for about 30 minutes I went out to have a blast before the sun went down. Started no problem and reversed a few yards when she coughed and died. She then would not restart, turning over but not firing.

After an hour I went and tried again and if I used a bit of gas she would start but then die on me. Seems like not all cylinders were firing and after a few attempts there was a strong smell of petrol from inside and outside car.

Not done any diagnostics now, leave that till tomorrow, just wondered if there is a common fault like this such as failed sensor of some type, coil problem, fuel pump or line problem, leads?

Only serviced 300 miles ago

Thanks

[Extra 300 Driver]

Its over fueling on a hot start. Mini did it a bit. The best way I found was to give it half a boot full on a hot start and she went fine.

Some hae this trouble some not. Is she running rich?

[gbbird]

ine did this a few weeks ago, on one of those really hot days after a long drive up north. She just would'nt start after a brief stop at my sisters, and there was a distinct smell of petrol. I left it a while to cool down, and when i managed to coax her to fire up, she was threatening to stall for about ten minutes - i drove her full pult and then she seemed to be fine. I thought it was either some poor fuel (i had to fill up with non optimax), and later i discovered a leaky fuel pipe, which may or may not have had something to do with it but which certainly had something to do with the smell of petrol.
Has been fine since

[belperowl]

I just got her started but was very lumpy and a lot of water blowing out of exhausts, coolant level has dropped so I am fearing the head gasket has gone.

Not had any overheating problems etc though

[belperowl]

There are no signs of oil in the coolant or coolant in the oil but also no signs of coolant leaks. No mayonaise in filler caps etc.

I only recently got the car back from 12k service, new shims, tappets adjusted the full works, less than 300 miles ago and not checked coolant level since as I assumed it would be filled to max (if not then level may not have dropped as there is still coolant in the expansion tank but it is well below max) will be quite depressed if it is head gasket

[mikesr]

The coolant loss could be just a leak somewhere. I was losing coolant but couldn't find the leak at all. Trackcar traced it with his fancy cooling system pressurisation kit. It was a leak from the top of the radiator at one of the welds. It was a very small leak and the lost coolant evaporated off the hot radiator pretty much as soon as it came out, hence so damned elusive to find.

A new radiator plus water wetter and several drives finally purged all the air. Its been prety much OK ever since (wher's that block of mahogany to touch)

[mikesr]

A thought on the coughing and dying - have you tried taking off the fuel cap. My rollover valve was blocked and the tank wasn't venting properly. It caused a few running problems in the warm weather. Once over killing the engine commpletely. Fortunately the fuel cap was the prime suspect. Major intake of air when I took it off. Cranked the engine a few times and it restarted.

Edited by mikesr on Saturday 9th September 13:20

[belperowl]

Thanks for ideas guys keep them coming.

I was thinking that maybe the coolant could be low after being replaced, as trapped air got out of the system.

I was thinking of toping up, checking for wet plugs and letting them dry, then running to see but worried about doing damage if it is head gaskets.

I've emailed Trackcar and will probably wait till Monday to speak to some experienced indies

[headcase]

belperowl said:

I just got her started but was very lumpy and a lot of water blowing out of exhausts, coolant level has dropped so I am fearing the head gasket has gone.

Not had any overheating problems etc though

Could well be just the cats, they are suppost to turn some of the exhaust gasses to water.

[trooperiziz]

I agree, it sounds like hot-start overfueling. If I ever flood my Cerb, I find cranking the engine on the starter and pumping the throttle will kick her into life.