Starting Problem

[napkinthief]

My situation is the car sat for a little over a year in my driveway.

To get it ready I drained the fuel and oil, refilled and topped off all the fluids, changed the battery and plugs, and the car has been running fine. Only problem is it takes 2-3 tries to turn on everytime. If i hold the key in ignition (crank the starter) and press the gas after about 10-15 clicks itll fire up, stutter for a few seconds then idle high (1500 rpm) for about 30 seconds then go back to a solid 800 rpm idle.

Im not sure what to do next, injectors? starter? fuel rail?

I dont know if i should use some fuel system cleaner or just start swapping out parts. I am on a limited budget so I really cant just buy parts and put them in to test...

 

[the_mork]

Injector cleaner isn't a bad idea though usually by the time you are having problems it is too late. If the car runs well after its initial hesitation it could be the the fuel is draining out of your fuel pump/line. To test for that try running the car for a bit, shut the car off and immediately start it again, if it starts fine then it is likely that the O ring at the top of your fuel pump is torn or otherwise faulty. Check vfaq.com and look through the fuel pump replacement articles, several talk about this O ring and the part numbers for replacements which will likely cost less than $2.

 

[kris_stewart10]

just use the fuel cleaner and then once you have it in there turn the key on then off then on then off then on then off three times

and that will prime the fuel pump and once it is primed then try starting because no matter how you drained the gas you will have bad gas in there my car sat in a cow field and it ran like that until i got the bad gas out and once you get the bad gas out it should run fine

 

[brownfinger]

If the car runs well after its initial hesitation it could be the the fuel is draining out of your fuel pump/line.

So, are you saying that the fuel line has air in it and the problem goes away as the air purges from the line? My car has what you might call a similar problem. I've been hunting through all of the sensors and electronics, assuming it to be temperature related. My car only does it when it's almost completely cold (first start of the day, or equivlent.).
I guess I just don't see how the air is getting in the line, if the fuel pick-up and return are both submerged in the tank.
OK now I read the VFAQs. It doesn't look like that is my problem. FWD pump is different. It still seems like you'd have to have a nearly empty tank for the line to really get dry.

 

[napkinthief]

The car starts right up after about 5 minutes of driving if I turn off and turn it back on within a few minutes.

There is no more bad gas in there, I have been driving for nearly a month and the gas was completely drained before. There may have been droplets which shouldnt cause a problem. I was hesistant to use the fuel cleaner because it has clogged the injectors on my ford before. I will the seals on the fuel pump, seems like a very reasonable explanation, since a few seals and hoses around the car were dried out. Thanks.

 

[architechnik]

Don't forget to change your fuel filter occasionally. If it sat for about a year and hadn't been replaced within six months prior to that, you may have a bad filter.

As for the other post about the pump submerged in the fuel, air enters the line from the other end. If you have a bad seal at your injectors, where the line enters the fuel rail, where the pressure regulator attaches, or the regulator itself, air may enter the line on that end. When the fuel pump fires up, it will just pressurize this air, replacing the space that would be fuel.

 

[spoonman]

Brownfinger your problem is most likely a bad coolant temp. sensor, This article will help you in diagnosing your start up problem, maybe it will help the OP also.

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/articles-miscellaneous/217951-how-diagnose-no-start.html

 

[napkinthief]

I changed the seal on the fuel pump it was about 3$ at autozone. Still having the same issue. I may take the car to a shop and get all the injector seals changed, this is really starting to frustrate. The car runs perfect, but its embarrassing how long it takes to turn on.

 

[the_mork]

Try some seafoam, dump the whole bottle into a full tank of gas and see how you are after 150 miles. I don't think the seals are the problem. Another possibility is a vacuum leak, try doing a boost leak test to see if you are sucking in air after the maf, if so the computer may not be triggering the injectors enough.

P.S. If you do decide to get the injector seals changed anyways they shouldn't be very hard to do on your own.