BAD START: takes 3 tries to start. cannot figure out the cause.

[maku_gx]

hello

I am trying to figure whats wrong with my car, and among many things one of the most concerning ones its the start and fuel smell all over (:O)I've been working on the car for a year, about 3 months ago I started using it.its been having this problem since I put the engine on the car though, and Could never figure whats wrong with it.at different times, buddies thought there were diff things, so i changed all of these things but none of them were it.

ENGINE: sr20det 91 red topI've got a walbro fuel pump. its turning on all fine. no problems there.I got stock injectors from an sr20det 91 red top, which is the engine I have (i have the slight feeling these got something to do with this problem)

Spark plugs were changed numerous times.Coil overs work fine.All hoses are fine.MAF was changed for a "new" one. (wasted money)

this is what happens.

when I start it the first day after it hasnt been driven for more than 24 hrs, it starts almost right up. it almost gets there, but if i dont give it some "air pedal" it wont start.thats like a monday morning, but the rest of the week wont do it like monday morning.

then the rest of the week at any time, i have to crank for 4-7 seconds, stop for 4-7 seconds, then crank up again twice, and then the third one the same but slowly push to regulate the gas pedal and it will start with some struggle.

EVERYTIME this happens it smells like gas all over.everytime i get off my car after driving, i smell like gas and the chicks get turned on and come say hey sexy (jk)

so anyway, thats all i can come up with.questions, please ask, and answer, oh for the love of god answer!
Modified by maku_gx at 3:16 PM 8/7/2008

[osirus74]

what engine do you have? what other engine mods?

[maku_gx]

what engine do you have? what other engine mods?

sr20det

i have a blitz bovkoyo radgreedy exhaust pipez32 gas filter

i think thats about it :P

[spindrift187]

there should be a ground near the front of the head(comes from the main engine harness), check to make sure it's got a good connection. I had the same problem awhile back.

[styc]

perhaps you need a FPR that can compensate for the added flow of the walbro?

do you have a START signal going to the ecu?

[carmo]

Supose maybe a leaking injector bleeds fuel into the cylinder after the car is cut off. The fuel may wash the rings down causing low compression and hard to start. That would explain why the vehicle starts after sitting. The gas would have a chance to seep past the rings and dry out or evaporate. I like styc's idea. A good fuel pressure regulator and an inline fuel pressure gauge so you know your adjustment. Just a theory, but it sounds good. Good luck

[spindrift187]

perhaps you need a FPR that can compensate for the added flow of the walbro?

Na walbro's can run even on stock KA's fine.

[onosqv]

Na walbro's can run even on stock KA's fine.

if the fpr is bad, won't matter if it's a walbro or not.

sounds like possibly leaky injector or bad fpr - easiest way to test fpr is w/ gauge. You can test injector either by FSM or sending it in to be cleaned/flow tested.

[carmo]

A bad injector usually ohms out different than the others. I dont know if a stuck open injector will ohm good. I imagine it could. Look for 11 to 13ohms of resistance through each injector. Nissan has different color injectors (colored dots on the injector) and the colors need to match suposedly. If you run an 80lph fuel pump on the fuel sys. for 18 years and all the sudden bump it to 250lph, whos to say that fpr wont go bad. Mine did on my honda. I was washing plugs down till i got the little cheapie fpr rebuild kit. The one that you have to saw the top off of your factory fpr to install. Try that first. Fairly cheap.

[hnsenter]

Hi guys, sorry if i'm thread jacking but I have a very similar problem. I got a 94 black top sr20det. When i first got it it was running rich so i took it back to the shop. There were also black smoke when i took it back.. The mechanic said he changed the injectors, maf, o2 sensor and fuel sending unit. Eventually he gave me a mines tuned ecu and at first it was running really lean and at the same time the start up is horrible!! After a day of driving it kinda got better the "lean" part. I guess i'll find out tomorrow to see if it's lean or not. However I'm still having a hard time starting the motor.. I have to play with the gas pedal and I'll usually get it on the second or third try. Also when I idle, I noticed the car shakes a lot, but the idle stays constant at 900. Unless I have a/c on then it'll drop to like 800.

I have a stock ka, sohc fuel pump.. I'm going to put in a walboro soon but would it make that much of a difference? Before the mines ecu it was starting up fine but ran very rich. Any and all advice is would be appreciated. As for my car it's a completely stock black top sr20det, 3 inch down pipe and an air filter with a atmosphere bov.

[maku_gx]

hey everyoneFirst I wanted to say thanks for all the reply and help, and sorry I wasn't able to say this before and update what was going on.I believe I found the problem, HNSENTER I think your problem might be the same as mine.lower compression due to an old engine.Mine was running 110's compression test, you should that first.

you know what I did?I bought another blacktop sr20 96" for $400 bucks with 30k miles from a friend and swapped it in.I still havnt done the timing but I'm driving around and its awesome.it turns on like a normal car, I still have the problem where the car would stall if I'm going fast and I clutch all the way and hold, but the rest is all good.

anyway, I hope that is your same problem (old motor) which, i dont think you'll find very happy news.yeah, so apparently there were probably over 200k miles on it.

well, let me know ^^

Hi guys, sorry if i'm thread jacking but I have a very similar problem. I got a 94 black top sr20det. When i first got it it was running rich so i took it back to the shop. There were also black smoke when i took it back.. The mechanic said he changed the injectors, maf, o2 sensor and fuel sending unit. Eventually he gave me a mines tuned ecu and at first it was running really lean and at the same time the start up is horrible!! After a day of driving it kinda got better the "lean" part. I guess i'll find out tomorrow to see if it's lean or not. However I'm still having a hard time starting the motor.. I have to play with the gas pedal and I'll usually get it on the second or third try. Also when I idle, I noticed the car shakes a lot, but the idle stays constant at 900. Unless I have a/c on then it'll drop to like 800.

I have a stock ka, sohc fuel pump.. I'm going to put in a walboro soon but would it make that much of a difference? Before the mines ecu it was starting up fine but ran very rich. Any and all advice is would be appreciated. As for my car it's a completely stock black top sr20det, 3 inch down pipe and an air filter with a atmosphere bov.

[hnsenter]

I dont like the sounds of that man, i just got my motor.

[maku_gx]

mmmim not a big mechanic at all, but i dont think youre either, assuming thats the casei would ask ppl who know if they can do a compression test and if theyre able to tell somehow how much milage the motor has.but, be aware that many ppl get screwed on those motor deals many times.as I have before, been told the motor had 30k miles and it had more than 150 obviously.they always say 30k miles but its ALWAYS bs.

[GaMBiTx]

Try cleaning your coolant temperature sensor! for the hard starts, and the idle problems. Let me know your progress

[hnsenter]

Is there a difference between engine temp sensor and coolant temp sensor? As for the sensor is that the one that's kinda in between the throttle body and the motor itself? Towards the front side of the motor.. kinda hard to reach into?

[maku_gx]

heyI believe I was where you are now.Luckily I had friends who knew much more than I did, and could be more sure of what the problem was.If it was up to me, ...I'd have painted the car another color and expect that to make the car work...so yeah.I find your Initiative to fix your own problem good, in fact, better than mine..I'm naturally bad when it comes to Initiative, but the only thing I originally wanted to say....*scrolls up ..>_>was that You better study a bit more before going on guessing stuff and taking action on it, cuz you could **** up something for the worse, and then you'd learn a good lesson in a bad way.

so yeah, good luck with this crap.

Is there a difference between engine temp sensor and coolant temp sensor? As for the sensor is that the one that's kinda in between the throttle body and the motor itself? Towards the front side of the motor.. kinda hard to reach into?

[hnsenter]

Well someone told me to replace the engine temp sensor and someone else said to replace the coolant temp sensor. I know exactly where the sensor i need to replace cause my mechanic pointed at it. I just want to make sure i buy the right part.

[Darkman6909]

Most likely bad injector

[zstylelowrider]

My 95 s14 was doing the same thing. And after repaclacing to many sensors I finally figured out that my cam sensor was shorting out part of the time. The engine would be hard too start because the plugs were fouling out. Once i could get it started it would idle ok until I gave it the slightest bit of throttle then my engine acted like it wanted to jump out of my car. After buying a new distributor I solved my problem.

[maku_gx]

hey great feedback dude.thats surely to help in some way.

My 95 s14 was doing the same thing. And after repaclacing to many sensors I finally figured out that my cam sensor was shorting out part of the time. The engine would be hard too start because the plugs were fouling out. Once i could get it started it would idle ok until I gave it the slightest bit of throttle then my engine acted like it wanted to jump out of my car. After buying a new distributor I solved my problem.