[V8] Starting Problems

[Buchholz, Steven]

I spoke to a gentleman yesterday who owns a 1990 V8 that is languishing in a service shop in San Francisco.  He had problems with the exhaust smoking, which ended up being related to a scored cylinder (!).  The car has a replacement engine installed and the smoking issue is resolved.  He is still seeing excessive cranking times when starting cold.  The ECU is not logging any trouble codes at this point.  

The shop is reporting that the fuel pressure is excessive (~90PSI), and the tech is not able to get the pressure down.  The pump was tested, some level of testing of the fuel pressure regulator was done (although I don't know for sure that the FPR was replaced), and the return system was even checked for blockage (!!!).  Has anyone ever checked the fuel pressure on their car?  While that is a well known troubleshooting item for me on CIS cars, I've never felt a need to check either of my V8s.  I do suspect that as the FPR ages the pressure increases, as this would lead to the rich situation that I associate with a FPR that needs to be replaced.  

At one point he mentioned that the spark plugs appeared to be wet with fuel, and I shared with him that there were some on this list who had troubles with the factory specified spark plugs.  I did not remember what the general best recommendation was.  I did tell him that I personally have not had a problem with the factory quad ground $15 each units.  I also questioned whether or not he had replaced distributor caps and rotors ... or ignition wires.  He was not aware of any changes there.  

I thought I'd post the situation here to see if there were any other suggestions for fixes on excessive cold cranking situations.  Feel free to respond to me or to post back to the list and I'll pass along the feedback ... perhaps we can marshal a new V8 owner to join our group!

Thanks!
Steve B
San José, CA (USA)