Starting Problems / Petrol?

[porky2]

Had trouble starting the 98 2ltr petrol yesterday. Had to floor the accelerator to get it away & after that ran smoothly. As yet I havn,t tried it on the road in case it breaks down completely. Any ideas what the problem could be? It had a full service about 8K ago

[anchorman]

Sounds like it was flooded (too much fuel in the cylinder prevented the plugs from sparking properly). Sometimes just moving it around on the drive or in and out of the garage etc will cause a build up of petrol in the cylinders and when that happens holding the pedal to the floor allows a rush of incoming air to dry the plugs.

Just because it was serviced doesn't mean it had plugs OR the correct plugs were fitted and if that is the case it could also cause flooding on more normal running.

[bothwell_buyer]

if i remember, the 3sfe engine is a bit particular to the plugs fitted...or maybe that was a dealer ploy??

[porky2]

Sounds like it was flooded (too much fuel in the cylinder prevented the plugs from sparking properly). Sometimes just moving it around on the drive or in and out of the garage etc will cause a build up of petrol in the cylinders and when that happens holding the pedal to the floor allows a rush of incoming air to dry the plugs.

Just because it was serviced doesn't mean it had plugs OR the correct plugs were fitted and if that is the case it could also cause flooding on more normal running.

Thanks for the info. Never thought about plugs & it has done 68k probably on the original ones so will start off there.Haven,t had any problems starting since but you wonder if it will happen again at the wrong time!

Porky2

[porky2]

if i remember, the 3sfe engine is a bit particular to the plugs fitted...or maybe that was a dealer ploy??

Thanks TOC, going to try the plugs

[anchorman]

If it does it again before doing the plugs, hold your accelerator down to the floor and crank the engine continuously until it starts. Don't do it for more than about 30 seconds and leave it until the starter cools off (about 2 mins) before trying again.