Hi All again, Yesterday i drove the Mondial very nicely for about 50 km. Back to the garage again. This morning won't start...engine is turning, fuel pump works perfectly, fuses and relays are perfect....lots of fuel mell though Any idea?
lots of fuel smell -- means there is no spark if the starter turns the engine over too fast (too easily) -- means no compression .
Assuming you have spark, you can pull the fuel pump fuse and then crank it until it starts. It'll start, burn off the existing fuel, and then quit. Put the fuse back in and start it again. All should be well. Only takes a minute to do this. Lou
I changed these to fix my car not starting and dying issue( and yes I had gas smell before I changed) : Fuel Pump relay and the Fuel Pump Starter relay In the sticky http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/mondial/465425-cold-start-valve-csv-2.html
Just test for a spark with a spark plug. If there is a spark, disconnect the cable from the cold start injector. That was the solution in my case. If there is no spark then look at that first.
How does a faulty cold start injector flood a car on a cold start? Hard to be an armchair mechanic, but fuel smell sure sounds like spark issue. Pull one or two plugs, if wet, you have fuel. Regards, Jerry
In some cases the help of the cold start injector is too much. When cold it is already in a rich situation, on top off there is the cold start injector which will make the mixture even richer with a higher flood risk. So if there is a spark, this could be the issue. If there is no spark, then it is obvious not the cold start injector so the spark should be tested first
If the battery is low on my car (3.2) and barely cranks, then doesn't have enough juice to start, it floods. I can smell the gas. So I pull the fuel pump fuse and re start it (with charged battery) and it'll start, burn off the excess fuel, then quit. Then I replace the fuse and it starts normally. Sort of a trick used to start flooded engines in light aircraft. Cutoff the mixture to not allow any more fuel. Crank it until it clears and starts. Then add mixture to rich. Obviously no mixture control in the car, so I use the fuel pump fuse to achieve the same thing.
Thanks. I have never seen that on fuel injected cars. I have seen that on carbureted cars, as too much pumping will flood the engine. In a fuel injected car, you are not supposed to open the throttle, although sometimes you do have to just crack it open to help it catch. If the plugs are good, and electrics are reasonably good, I would think it would take a fair amount of extra fuel to get the plugs so wet they couldn't fire. Same about pulling the fuse for a flooded car. I have seen that work very nicely for old carbureted cars when the driver would just pump away after a no start (or pull the coil wire from the old single coil pack) , never for fuel injected; but I guess I learn something new every day!!! Agree about weak battery, if it doesn't turn over briskly, hook up the battery pack and give it a boost. I try to keep mine on a battery maintainer, but it has gone over 2 weeks with no help and still turned over just fine. On the t, there are two ignition modules in the trunk. If they crap out, no spark, no start. Ask me how I know!! Regards, Jerry
On carburated cars you can flood the motor easily with pumping, due to the acceleration pump in the carburator(s). Ferrari uses a cold start device (injector) on their 3.0 and 3.2 fuel injected cars which sprays fuel in the airbox for a few seconds during cold startup. Sometimes this is a little too much... I had this with my previous 3.2, after (electrical) disconnecting this device the flooding problems were completely solved. The problems were mainly with moderate temperatures like we now have on the spring. I was not the only one with this problem hence my advice to check this (after the spark test!)
I had the same issue like Johan. Even when started I had a fuel smell that could ignite the place Anyway unplug the thing as you really do not need it. It also pollutes your air intakes and created more unwanted carbon on place you do not want to have it.
Took the plugs out: full of fuel. Cleaned them. Aspire the fuel from the engine put them back and started. Why this happened?
I guess it's the cold start device (the ignition is ok is my conclusion), I would unplug it (there is an electrical connector on top of it which you can disconnect).
its possible that the cold start device is leaking fuel. Therefore take it off, with electrical connection on, and start the car when warm. Fuel may not come out even in drops. After check you can pull that electric connection and leave it off. Guido
I am glad you started it. The cause could have been one of 2 things, and I am speaking very broad. 1)You could have had a temporary loss of spark. This will ( mostly rule out plug wires and plugs) which are less prone to having intermittent failure, although it is possible for plug wires to gain resistance during periods of high humidity or heat cycles. More likely something else that controls spark would have temporarily failed. 2) you could have had a period of excessive fuel. I am not sure of the cars systems, but based on replies, there appears to be a secondary enrichment circuit. If there indeed is a cold start injector, it gets it's signal to work from some sort of temperature sender. The sender should be as suspect as the injector itself I wish I could be more help, but maybe this can help you to start poking around. Good luck Rich
Even if the cold start injector does work correctly this can happen. Johan explained this in detail already. Leave it off. If the problem stays.. Replace "all" your 8 injectors. They are mechanical and subject to wear so they start to leak at some point, which is also common with such injectors. But my guess is that it stays away when you unplug the blue plug.
Good work!! Is technical control the equal to our Motor Vehicle Inspection performed by each State? Rich
