hard to start when cold, plus other issues?

[blueblitzpup]

Hi all, one thing after another with this one. I've recently replaced the head gaskets and other components of my engine, so on that aspect everything seems to check out. But now I'm having a hard time starting the car. It will take a good five or so tries before the car will actually start and stay running.

I've done new cap, rotor, plugs, timing belt (yes, appropriately tensioned), adjusted timing, replaced chts harness, repaired FTS, cleaned the maf, replaced a leaking plenum gasket, new fuel filter, new fuel pressure regulator, battery is good, starter is new, and new alternator too. AC has been removed.

The car originally had an automatic transmission, but I have put in a manual transmission. It is a 1986 turbo. I have an 86 NA ecu, but plugging it in does not appear to improve starting ability.

Codes I've seen are: air conditioning (I assume because of the delete), neutral safety switch (because the A/T is gone, but I connected the appropriate wires to allow the car to start), detonation sensor (but I've been unable to locate the sensor to verify this one), idle switch (it seems to be fine?), start/ignition signal (one of these two, can't remember which)

Now I'm guessing that the signal, tps, and possibly detonation sensor are possible causes, but I'm not sure where to start. Will the tps not reading as closed throttle cause the car to have that much difficulty starting? What about the other components? My ECU had some burnt traces in it but I repaired those and verified that the other components were okay, so I should be able to rule that out, right?

And second, my fuel pump does not stop priming before starting. It did when I got the car, but not anymore. It will prime normally, and then when the relay clicks it just slows down a little. I don't think this is normal, is it? I'm guessing for this one I should just be looking for a wiring issue, but it should be easy to fix.

Many thanks for any input!

[evildky]

Any smoke when it does start? Are warm restarts easier than cold starts? A slow start is usually a sign of a bad fpr which you've replaced, an inline gauge can verify that the rail is holding pressure. Once fuel is ruled out spark becomes suspect. Sounds like you've replaced everything spark related aside from the cas which usually breaks up at rpm or stalls the car randomly. Bad valve seals or rings could cause the plugs to become fouled requiring a few cycles to burn the crud off before the engine can start. IACV not doing it's job, could be dirty sticking or out of whack not allowing enough air in quickly enough, or could be a result of a bad or incorrectly calibrated tps.

[blueblitzpup]

No smoke, no. It is a little rich but I believe that is expected on startup. Warm restarts are almost instant, like its got no issues at all. I haven't had the chance to get a fuel pressure gauge on the rail yet but its about the only thing I haven't checked fuel wise. The valve stem seals were replaced when I did the head gaskets, but when I took the old (but brand new when I installed them last month) plugs out they didn't look like they were fouled; the gap was at .044 which was out of the original spec but I hadn't gapped them either. I gapped the new ones at .041 though, with OE replacement plugs. I took the IAC off when changing the plugs and it was fairly dirty so I did clean it out.

I tried jumping the two pins for "idle/closed plate" on the tps connector but had no luck.

[blueblitzpup]

So, I think I may have found part of my issue..
https://vine.co/v/en7Ahq6px6g

I don't think we can embed vine videos, but messing with stuff made this happen. When I was checking the TPS, it was pretty sketchy on the throttle closed position too. I'm not sure if its my whole issue, but it seems to be a considerable part of it. I'll keep this updated in case anyone else seems to run into this.