[s-cars] Intermittent hard start

[Tom Green]

Steve,

Ok, I won't jump on your fuel pump.  That problem is junk and fuel  
varnish preventing
the check valve from letting the fuel drain from the line.

You should not have the feeling that it takes 6 revolutions.  It  
should be more like
an instantaneous start.  The fuel rail should retain almost all  
operating pressure for
more than 10 minutes providing immediate high pressure fuel to the  
injectors.  If the
system leaks fuel pressure it leaks fuel, internally if the FPR  
allows the pressure to
bleed off to the return line.  If the FPR does not hold correct  
pressure when operating,
there are usually other symptoms and DTC's and MIL light blinking,   
and probably poor
fuel economy.

A fuel pressure tester would be nice, otherwise look for leaks in  
fuel lines and vacuum
lines close to the FPR.  Absent any leaks, suspect the FPR or its seals.

Poor spray pattern from the injectors could cause some delay in  
starting as well.

Tom  '95 S6


> Steve Young writes:

> Fellow listers...
>
> The patient is a 95.5 S6 avant with 140k miles.  The vast majority  
> of the
> time, the car will start within a half dozen motor rotations.  Over  
> the past
> few months, every once and awhile, it would take several seconds of  
> cranking
> to start, most notably after it had been sitting overnight.  It has  
> never
> not started, but it is getting worse and happening more often as time
> passes.  Now before you all jump on the fuel pump, it was replaced  
> with the
> fuel tank about 15 months ago at 115K.  Not to say that it isn't  
> possible it
> is failing, but I would tend to look somewhere else first.  It  
> almost seems
> like it loses it's prime like a water pump.  Is it possible that  
> the fuel
> pressure bleeds off somehow?  Just trying to fix this before I get  
> stuck
> somewhere.  Any collective wisdom is appreciated.  TIA
>
> Regards,
>
> 				TRANE
> Steven Young
> Local Operations Manager
> Albany Office
> *  Tel. (518) 724-1453
> * Fax (518) 785-4359
> * sryoung at trane.com