Hi Everyone,

I bought a 98 Bravo few days ago. I am in Norway. The temperature has dropped and now the car has issues starting and running. Looking for some tips on troubleshooting. Here is what happens:

When the car has been sitting for several hours, it starts fine. If the temp is above -5C the car runs fine as long as I wish. If I turn it off, and start it up again with say 30 minutes it is fine. If I wait longer than 30 minutes or so, it won't start for another 4-5 hours. I don't know if it is the time or the cold that defines the 4-5 hour window. If it is cold out (-15C) the cars starts no problem, but after about 2 minutes just as the motor is starting to get warm, it stops as if someone turned it off. Further attempts to start fail for the next few hours.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Joseph

When where these things changed: oil, plugs, leads, filters (oil, air, petrol) ?

Any light on the dash stay on after stalling ?




Members Site - - - - - - - My Site

Hi,

All the filters were changed recently. The plugs are new as well. The car has 83,000km. I assume the leads are original. I have checked for spark, but that was inconclusive. Corrosion on the valve cover maybe made a good contact had to establish, and I am doing the work myself and it is -15C so my wife won't help! I tried pulling the fuel line from the throttle body, and there is plenty of fuel at least that far. When the car won't start after leaving it stopped for a short period, there are no warning lights that are abnormal. When the car stops after running for 2 minutes when it is cold outside, the injection lamp lights, and stays lit until the next time the car starts several hours later.

Joseph

OK I don't really know what does what on the injection side of things but here goes, but i'll explain it in old carburetor terms.

it's the enrichment circuits not turning off.

It starts when it's cold as if it was using full choke (old carburetor thing ). When it gets warm the circuit is not switching off, leading to the car recieving too much fuel, so it stalls and will not restart

Thats why you have to leave it to cool right down before it will work again i.e needs choke.

If anyone knows what sensor is responsible for this circuit?????? I'd guess its that one at fault.

The thing is, that when it dies it dies immediately. Like the ignition is switched off. If it were a problem with the choke I'd expect it to die in a spluttery sort of way.

When the motor turns over when it doesn't start, there seems to be no fuel getting through. No smell from the exhaust, and when I pulled a spark plug, it didn't smell of fuel either.

Hmmm.

Joseph

Did you check your petrol cut off switch ? - it may be frozen


Members Site - - - - - - - My Site

A diag should show if any sensor is behaving badly.

I'd say it wasn't a cold start enrichment issue. If it was flooding it would stink of petrol and the plugs would be wet. Also the MPG would be truly dire.

My first thought is faulty coil pack.

I'm pretty sure it is some sensor or selonoid, and not a fuel delivery problem. When I turn the ignition to the "MAR" position, I hear the fuel pump do it's thing for a few seconds and stop as it should.

I'm also pretty sure it's not an ignition thing because I would expect to smell fuel if it were.

So something is telling the injector to stop, or rather, not tellin git to go when it should. What sort of injection system is used? I am familiar with the paddle type air-flow type used on older VW's, as well as the wire type on BMW, and the type used on Fiat 124 and Lancia. And the crazy mechanical Spica from old US spec Alfa's. But I don't know how this system works. Is there a seperate cold start injector? There seem to be 3 electrical connectors at the throttle body. One is connected to a selonoid type thingee that holds the throttle opened a bit. That seems to do what it should. What are the other 2?

Joseph