Technical Brava 1.4sx not starting well from cold

[blagtastic]

Hi people.
Firstly I'm no technician so what I'm describing may not use the correct terms and jargon so appologies in advance!

My Brava 1.4sx R reg is not starting at all well from cold. It start eventually after a few goes but only with keeping the key turned for ages and giving the accelarator some floor action. It then splutters and ticks overs really lamely for a few second before coming to life. The inside of the car then sticks of fuel .

Once its warmed up it start fine and the rest of the day causes no problems. We took it to a local garage to look at and get it diagnosed. They couldn't find anything wrong with it other than failing an emissions test. They then changed the temperature sensor as they thought it may be that the ecu thinks the engine is warm when in fact its not. I picked the car up from the garage and all seemed fine when I drove off but the engine was warm as they'd been working on it.

The next morning it was cold again and it hadn't made a blind bit of difference.

The car had a full service Sparks and Leads etc about 8 month 9000miles ago. I changed the Ignition coil about a month ago but it was fine straight after that for a 3 weeks. Its had a new battery 2 weeks ago. The starter motor chugs away as normal.

Has anyone got any ideas. I find that if I'm more clued up before I go to the garage they don't treat me like a numpty and spend all day diagnosing stuff.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Deckchair5]

Well i think they're on the right track-if it starts and runs fine when warm but is a pig to start when cold then I'd go for the engine temp sensor. Take it back to them and let them experience starting it when cold. It's a nightmare to test if you have to keep waiting for the engine to totally cool each time before you can test it so be patient with them, just tell them it's no different than when you took it in

The emissions being wrong needs sorting too and might be a clue to the problem but without the figures no one will be able to advise you

 

[blagtastic]

Thanks for that and apologies for not replying sooner I've been on my honeymoon for the last couple of weeks

I took the car back and they changed the plugs and leads for free !! as there previous effort hadn't solved things. I was of course delighted by this. This seems to have solved the problem although we've not had any realy cold frosty mornings yet. I was suprised though as my existing leads and plug were only a few months old.

Cheers.