starting problems 1.8 (tried search)

Hi. Headgasket work went well. Runs like a dream. Just starts like a bag of sh.t It was like this before the change apparently.

The car cranks and cranks and will eventually fire. It has no can or crank sensors. Which is what all the searches bring up. Is there a way to test the fuel pump? Or any other suggestions are welcome.

Thanks. Greg

Why doesn't it have cam position and crank sensors? These are fairly important for correct starting I belive. How old are the spark plugs?

Will.

As I understand the sensors are on MEMS 3 onwards. Although I may be wrong. Can sensor shops be located on rocker cover if I have it correct? It has New plugs

If its an early on it may not have a cam sensor. But it must have a crank poaition sensor or it has no engine position reference so doesn't know when to inject! Only reason it'd be crank sensor doing what you describe would be a weak signal from it? Too big an air gap or similar! The signal gets stronger as the engine speed increases, but normally they work or they don't!
I'd start with basics! Check plugs cap arm leads. Look for split vac pipes and air leaks. Then move on to stuff like fuel pressure, compressions etc.

Cam position sensors are only present if its coilpack ignition.

Vissie said:

Cam position sensors are only present if its coilpack ignition.

Click to expand...

I knew I wasn't being a total idiot

Cam sensor is for sequential injection. Programmed is the earlier type where it doesn't need to know whether no. 1 is on the compression stroke or the exhaust stroke for starting. Programmed squirts on both strokes sequential only on the induction stroke hence it needs to know the cam phasing!

right i have checked all leads, the distrubuter points, all the air and vacuum hoses and all seems ok. i have been out with the wd40 and sprayed it around all pipes and no difference in revs or any response whatsoever...im starting to loose patience

somebody mentioned an auto-choke to me, how would i check this?

It has an idle air bypass on the throttle body. They can get clogged up. I'd think about plugging it in and reading fault codes and actual values to see if any sensors are duff or reading out of spec!

What does this bypass look like and where does of clogged? I think I will take it in tomorrow and get it plugged in

Locate the throttle body, there will be a small pipe coming from the front of the body before the throttle butterfly (if i remember rightly) and this goes round to the front of the manifold where the pipe will go back in behind the throttle butterly. It will also have a plug on it. This is the auto choke.

Clogged up or not, it should still start. I don't think this is the problem. It's not like it's -15c outside at the moment.

You're right in MEMS3 (EU3) have the cam AND crank sensors, and the old MEMS (EU2) have only the crank sensor.

One sensor you may be overlooking is the throttle pot sensor. If for some reason the ECU has got muddled it might not be putting enough fuel in compared to how open the butterfly is. You can reset this by ignition off > ignition on without starting > depress throttle 5 times > ignition off > ignition on (someone correct me if i've forgotten a step).

Also, once it is fired up, how many revs does it idle at?

I have tried the reset with no result. It idles a touch over 1000