Warm weather no start.

My old 1986 2.5 petrol 110 starts first turn when cold. She's been sitting for a week in 20 degree weather, went to start her and it just spun for 10-15 secs then finally fired. Drove it for 20 mins with no issues. Parked it up, came back 30 mins later and same thing.

Any ideas?

Cheers in advance

Hmm. It's usually the other way round with petrol engines. Could it be the fact that it has been standing for a while rather than the temperature? Has the fuel drained out of the pipe back into the tank while it's been sitting there?

Not that this helps at all, but... my mates petrol Polo does exactly the same when the weather warms up! He's going to have a look at it at the weekend, I'll update what he found!

Used to be a fairly common problem with the petrol series - evaporation at the carb. Worth a search or a question on the series forum here.
I had the same on my old polo - they used to have a woeful auto choke.

zeaphod said:

Used to be a fairly common problem with the petrol series - evaporation at the carb. Worth a search or a question on the series forum here.
I had the same on my old polo - they used to have a woeful auto choke.

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Did you ever get the Polo sorted? Or is a case of a bit of foot on the pedal when starting? Cheers

My classic bug used to do the same. Was down to poor ignition timing and a dodgy poorly set up carb.

Have you removed the petrol cap? Sometimes get a build up of pressure in the tank if the breather on cap is blocked especially in the warmer weather.

muckmuck said:

Have you removed the petrol cap? Sometimes get a build up of pressure in the tank if the breather on cap is blocked especially in the warmer weather.

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My Bandit motorcycle did this too until I stripped the filler cap and rebuilt it.

Yes removed the petrol cap........ no difference. Just to add more info. It does it on cold days too. Just drove it 5 miles stopped it for 10 mins and she had no intention of starting. Finally did with foot flat to the floor, put on seat belt and she stalled.

Does the 86/87 100 defender have an engine coolant temp sensor?

No on the coolant temp sensor - but a nice thought. The RV8 does that when it fails out the sensor - gets to be a right bastard to start.
My thought here would be to make sure what system is buggering up - could be fuel, but could be ignition as well. With it in failed condition crank it and see what the plugs look like, or crank it with the air cleaner off and dribble in a bit of gas. If it lights right up then it's fuel. if the plugs are wet and it's not lit off then look to ignition.
Also, check the routing of the fuel lines - vapor lock is not your friend.

Alan