Early symptoms of a hot start problem?

[Chris Hawes]

I have had my car for nearly five years and it has always started from hot or cold on one crank.

I have noticed recently though that if the engine has been run and I go back to start it if you do a crank to start and let go there is now approximately a one second pause and then the engine decides to then start but the pause is long enough to make me wonder if is going to or not.

Is something starting to finally wear and any ideas out there to what the cause could be?

Could this be the early signs of a hot start problem?

Regards,

Chris Hawes
Vin 5255

[Barson]

What would sticking a relay in the hot start relay socket do for you?

If it works better, then it might infer that your engine needs more gas to get it going when hot (might). I'm not sure about affected parts of the engine...

One thing: How enthusiastic is your starter motor at turning?

[Chris Hawes]

The starter turns fine. The volts are 11.2-14.4 from memory on start up (the GPS on the sat Nav quotes these readings...)

[NickT]

When you turn the ignition key to position 2 does the fuel pump run for approx 1 to 2 seconds? It should do this to prime the fuel system.

Classic signs of a bad hot start problem is the accumulator being at fault.
The metering flap should have a resistance to it when pressed with a finger.

A full fuel pressure test will give a quantiative result and correctly diagnose any faults if at all with the fuel system.

If you stick a relay in the hot start socket it would need an earth wire inserted into the socket to complete the circuit. This just fires the cold start valve when cranking the engine.

Check electrical things first though. The relay to the left of the ballast resistor at the engine bulk-head is there to compensate for the voltage drop when the starter motor is cranking so that the coil always gets 9 (or is it 11?) volts.

NickT.