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Hello all-
My wife's '97 850 wagon sometimes doesn't want to start right away. It will take anywhere from a little longer to finally fire to several attempts to start it. This past winter (hopefully past anyway), it ALWAYS started fine when cold soaked down to 0F overnight.
The ignition stuff (wires, cap, rotor, plugs) was replaced when we bought the car about 14,000 miles ago so it seems unlikely (although I ordered new ones just to be on the safe side).
I suspected low fuel pressure at startup, so the first (read easiest) thing I did was took the fuel pump relay out and "hot wired" it on any time the ignition is on. It still sometimes didn't start well even when it had ample time to bring the fuel pressure up.
Next I checked the fuel pressure. It had none unless the pump was running by hotwiring it or cranking the starter, but with the pump running, the pressure came up immediately. The moment the pump was shut off, the pressure would go to zero over the next several seconds.
Another thing that I noticed is that while it sounded like the fuel pump was running right after turning the ignition on (but before cranking the starter and not hotwiring the fuel pump), there was no fuel pressure until the starter was cranked. Isn't the pump supposed to run a few seconds (which would be plenty) and then shut off?
I checked the fuel flow rate too. It did the 1.1oz in less than 10 seconds when it is supposed to take 30. No problems with flow rate. I did notice a lot of bubbles though, but I think they were from the trapped air in the pressure gauge's hose. The bubbles stopped pretty quick.
It would be easy to think that the leaking fuel pressure and not starting were related, but then the car should have started fine when the fuel pump was hotwired. If it is shut off and then started right away it starts fine, so if it was leaking injectors it should have flooded at least one cyliner.
We are planning a 2500 mile trip in a week and would like to get this fixed before then, so your help would be very much appreciated.
Thanks
Dave
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'97 110K+miles 850 grey wagon, '91 300K+ dark grey 740 wagon (130K driven since purchased & has thankfully quit only once), '89 200K+ grey 740 sedan (gave as gift to daughter)
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