xe starting issues

[marc69]

The car started first time today, drove 30 miles no bother, on my way home I did a few stops, bandq etc, on one the car wouldn't start, just turned.I just turned and turned with the throttle down, eventually it went but it was struggling and was idling at about 2500rpm, but when you pressed the throttle it almost stalled, not enough power to actually drive. After a few minutes the idle fell down to normal and it drove normally again, and restarted.

Is this the same as what yours did? It just seemed as though it was trying to start with a bad throttle or mixture, almost as if flooding?

[BRoadGhost]

TBH these symptoms are pretty much exactly what I had a few years back; it got so bad the thing would just cut out mid revs too. I thought it was the ignition amp, but that was only being damaged from the root cause.

I'd bent a couple of conrods; enough to upset the ignition timing to overload / heat new ignition amplifiers killing them in a matter of miles.

Took the engine apart, uprated with new rods, bought a larger type ignition amplifier (I'm on carbs) and rebuilt with ARP head bolts. Engine never misses a beat, runs cooler & reliability is back.

[marc69]

I see what you are sayiing but surely if I had bent conrods there would be more timing issues than an occasional refusal to start? Once going it drives absolutely perfect right through the whole range to 7000rpm with the same power as always. can an injection car with ecu get timing issues?

[BRoadGhost]

The reality is you could have 1 or 2 rods bent by different amounts. You might think you'd have more issues, but I didn't. Like yourself when it runs it seems fine & will pull throughout rev range.

ECU & Injection makes no odds; if the piston is further / less of the way round in one of the cylinders than (in your instance) the crank sensor is saying it is, then you can't expect everything to behave as it should.

[marc69]

Thanks, I understand what you mean. From when I bought it there would be the occasional time it would start on 3 cylinders but after a minute of idling would settle down to normal, looks like I bought a lemon.

This is a job I can't do myself so I'll phone around for quites from garages but I expect it would be cheaper puting in another engine.........oh how I miss the reliability and slowness of the 1400 track Nova

[BRoadGhost]

Well it's not as if you need to drop the engine out to potentially fix it; weather's still alright you could take the head off, sump & take the rods & pistons out to take a look.

You'll tell if they're all straight just by eye, if everything's fine then put them back with some new piston rings & maybe think about ARP headstuds.

The way I saw it at the time was: If it's not as it should be then it has to be taken apart anyway.

You could do this in a few days relaxed pace & the cost of gaskets / new parts would only be a few hundred; think about it.

[Will F]

It's quite unlikely that it has bent rods - more likely to be a more 'common' xe niggle... can you list what you changed/swapped?

Here's my list in order of likeliness (top is more likely!)

CTS
Dizzy/cap
Fuel relay
Ignition switch
Fuel pump
AFM
ECU

I havent read it through, but what are you 'missing' when it refuses to start? Fuel or spark or both?
If youve tried all them, change your rods

[BRoadGhost]

IMO most likely cause is head gasket, but you might be surprised if the engine's seen enough high rpm.

[marc69]

Thanks, I have bought a new ignition module (it's a coil pack ignition) and the next time it refuses to start I will put it on to see if that's it, if it still doesn't start I have a spark plug in the glove box so it will be easy to see if theres a spark. (Iwill of course remove it from the glove box and attach it too alead ), if there is spark, then I'll need to remove a plug and see if it iis wet..ie fuel.

I don't think it's the head gasket, oil and water are fine and it is only an occasional bad/won't start, today it started first time.

Will, excuse the ignorance.. what is CTS, AFM, where is the fuel relay, and apart from the key, is there another ignition switch?

I assume the fuel pump is woorking as I can hear it when the igntion is switched on.

[Will F]

Coolant temp sensor and Air flow meter... teh CTS is a really common fault - controls the ignition and fuelling based on engine temperature...

And I have no idea where Broadghost is getting these wild diagnoses from (head gasket?!)- but please ignore!