good evening,

my brick will not start. over the past month there have been problems of excessive time before the engine catches but it did eventually start. Tonight no joy with a restart immediately after a short trip, just to put the vehicle in the garage. I am currently recharging the battery in the hope it will work after it cools down. The car is facing uphill and has at least 1/2 tank of gas.

I have replaced the rpm sensor and fuel pump relay from fpgroton within the past week. In addition I have resoldered the radio suppression relay. The main fuel pump is making the right noises and I am able to hear the in-tank pump humming. The timing belt is intact.

I have a spark when turning the engine over. There are no error codes.

The vehicle has been running very well and despite having problems getting it started on some occasions over the past 3 weeks, is fine when it does start.

I am at a loss.

andrew
toronto

Dear Andrew,

Good p.m. and may this find you well. Could you have gotten a load of "bad petrol", i.e., with water in it.

That can bedevil starting, and even cause problems once you're rolling.

Another possibility involves the rubber cup that goes under the fuel filler pipe. That cup has a drain tube in the bottom. If the drain tube is plugged, rainwater can pool in the cup, and get in to the fuel supply when you remove the cap to add fuel.This is generally a risk for cars that live outside.

When was the fuel filter last changed?

Have you checked fuel system pressure. I believe 43 psi is normal.

Hope this helps.

Yours faithfully,

spook

After the vehicle has cooled down for a couple of hours (it is about 20 degrees C right now) and the battery somewhat recharged I tried to start it again. I went first kick. I do not know why.

I know this will happen again so in light of this new information your thoughts would be welcome.

cheers

andrew
sweltering in toronto (relatively)

thanks for the response spook,

I have not changed the fuel filter, it is sitting in the basement and I was getting around to installing it. Although we have had a lot of rain lately, the vehicle has been mostly parked inside ,but it is possible. I have not checked the fuel pressure. I was planning to check the pre pump; I have read in the posts that this can be an issue - am I right in saying that even though the pump may be working, there is a chance of other defective 'plumbing' that may prevent if performing and if so would that cause my problem?

cheers

andrew

Sounds like you've covered the usual issues. I'm wondering if you are getting a lot of damp weather up there and maybe it's plug wires. Another thought is distributor cap. Just suggestion since I had this problem recently. Of course you want to check for fuel and spark first to see if they are even there.

Gary

I have never checked the distributor cap. What were the symptoms that you had?

Could it be an IAC problem?My 94 944T will not start and run when hot in hot weather-I think it's the Idle Air Controller.Haven't replaced it yet because they are kind of expensive and I'm not sure it's the problem-only does it when hot.Car will fire every time-when it's in failure mode you have to hold down the gas pedal for 20 sec to keep it running,then it's OK.
sredwine 94 944T has 145K

Now that you mention it and made me think, it was not my 940 but my 740 that I replace cap and distributor. It has the sensor in it equivelant to the rpm sensor on 940.