2001 2.0 Vvti Estate Starting Problems

[tomeden]

hi all, bumped into this site purely by chance, but cant surely be anywhere else for a solution to this problem

sorry this is going to be a little long winded ,but i will try to cover all aspects of the problem, cheers.

just bought the said car, the car takes usually 10-15 seconds of constant turning to start it, once it starts its ok until it warms up, then some times it will start first turn ,others not at all and have to leave the car for maybe an hour or so,sometimes longer!!! :ffs:

when the car is running there are no problems at all,its just when you stop it!! lol.

the car has just had a new fuel pump fitted (£460) but still the problem.

the engine management light was lit but a friend and his diagnostic machine could find no faults,neither none stored in the memory??

have asked a few people who i consider "knowledgeable" for their opinion but all they have come up with is temperature sensor or crankshaft sensor? dont mind changing these if this is the problem,but don't really want to do this on a whim.

the car "tries" to start when the problem occurs, it acts as if its out of petrol??.just ticking over at 500 rpm or so ,no response from using the accelerator pedal and then stopping, is this typical cam/crank sensor symptoms?

any advice appreciated

[Matt Black]

Hi, the Autodata CD I've got, suggests the following component check sequence for problems starting from cold;

Electrical connections - engine/battery

Fuses/fuel pump relay/engine control relay

Condition of fuel/fuel filter

Air intake system/vacuum system - leaks

Engine Coolant temperature (ECT) sensor

Idle air control (IAC) valve/idle speed control (ISC) actuator

Air intake filter

Volume air flow (VAF) sensor

Fuel pressure/delivery rate/fuel pressure regulator

Injectors

Throttle valve/sticking/linkage/housing

Engine Control Module (ECM)

Hope that gives you some pointers.

Personally, I'd do the obvious things first regardless, like fuel filter, spark plugs, air filter, check all the hoses, unplug and reconnect all the sensors I can find - that sort of thing. Good luck.

[adventure boy]

This may not be the answer but its worth a try as I had the same problem on another car

it was due to a leak in the inlet manifold and the way I was told to check was to get the car running then spray around the inlet with either wd40 or easystart if there is a inlet leak when sprayed around the engine revs will change this can be done all around the inlet and vacume pipes, i do this on all cars I buy now and its mad how many have little leaks on vac pipes not fitting correctly all I do is cut an inch 2.5cm to be politically correct off the pipe and push it back on the difference is noticable instantly

just an ider but an inexpensive one thats easy to try