Hi Guys, Now that the weather has warmed up, I'm having problems starting my Mondial-8 again like I did last year. When the car is driven and warmed up, then turned off for a half hour to an hour, it has difficulty starting. The longer it sits past a half hour, the longer I have to crank it with the pedal pressed down before it starts to fire. It behaves a lot like the vapor lock problem I had in an RX7 a number of years ago. Once fuel starts flowing and it "clears it's throat" it runs fine. If I don't press the pedal down, it doesn't fire at all, and it starts to die if I let off too early once it starts to fire. Has anyone else had this problem? It got extremely irritating at the Vegas Rampage last weekend when we'd stop for breaks on drives. The longer the break, the more trouble I had starting it. I just had the engine maintenance done and had my mechanic do literally everything in the manual, including the fuel filter and timing belts. Any Ideas on what I should try first? Thor
Just a guess, but it sounded like a fuel problem to me. I would have the fuel accumulator checked to make sure it's holding pressure over 20 minutes or so. A bad accumulator can cause a hot-start problem. See http://www.auto-solve.com/mech_inj.htm#MFI05
You will need to carry out a fuel pressure test to be sure, but one of the most common faults is the failure of the one - way valve that is in outlet side of the fuel pump (number 3 in picture), if this fails then the fuel pressure in the primary circuit will drop off too quickly thus causing a vapour lock in the system causing poor hot starting. If the pressure drops off slowly then it could be the accumulator. The fuel pressure should be a minimum of 1.7 bar after 10 minutes and 1.5 bar after 20 minutes. Other things that can cause poor hot starting are :- 1. A leak in the vacuum system 2. The air flow sensor lever and/or control plunger sticking 3. Position of the air-flow sensor plate incorrect 4. Injection valves leaking 5. A fault with the warm-up regulator (pressures outside perameters) Hope this helps. Image Unavailable, Please Login
The other two posts pretty much cover it. Fuel accumulator failures are also notorious for causing this problem. A quick check of the fuel accumulator is to remove the hose from the nipple on the accumulator's back end. If gas drips out of the hose, then the accumulator's failed: the diaphram inside it is leaking. Many Euro models don't have the hose, just a bare nipple. Look for signs of gas dripping from the nipple. Easiest to spot by getting the car warmed up, shutting it down & looking at the nipple while it's still warm. Alternatively, put a 1' or so length of fuel line hose on the nipple, suspend it in the air. Run the car till it's warm, shut it down. Wait half an hour, then remove the hose. If it drips gas accumulator's bad.
Javelin276, I had a very similar problem with my '82 Mondial 8. It would start fine when cold but was VERY hard to start when warm or hot. My solution was to remove the electrical connector from the Cold Start Injector. For some reason I have yet to discover, the Cold Start Injector was being triggered during ALL starting situations which would effectively flood the engine. One way to check if this is also your problem would be to pull the plenum hose off the throttle body when you are having a hot start problem. If there is raw fuel inside the plenum (in my case it ran out of the plenum when I pulled the hose off) try and find out what is triggering the cold start injector when it shouldn't. Most likely cause is a bad thermo-time switch. I have had the CS Injector disconnected for several months with no problem. Good luck, Paul
WOW!! this is the exact problem I'm having with my '80 308. I am trying to figure it out too. Let me know if you find the problem. thanks, etip
Thanks guys! I haven't had time to attack it all the way yet, but I will in the next week or so. Thor
My 328 did the same thing. My mechanic replaced a module/relay?? above the coil, cleaned the fuel distributor and replaced the fuel accumulator and it went away and the car had more power. Good luck.
Hi Guys, My recently bought 88 Mondial cold starts every time. After warmed up the engine doesn't turn over let alone start - sometimes there can be a clicking (I assume solenoid). Then leave it overnight and it starts fine the next day. I have seen Hot Starting posts but they all refer to hard starting as opposed to not even turning over. Any ideas? Walter
Just a easy thing to check first. Our '86 Mondial 3.2 had a severe hot start problem a few summers ago. We changed the check valve and fuel accumulator without joy. Fuel pump was ok. Fuel filter was new. We then turned in the big brass knob (air bypass) on the k jetronic unit. Car was perfect after that, no idea how the problem started but it has been great ever since. You might mark the original position and experiment a little.
Holy Thread Resurrection Batman! There's no fuel injection problem that can cause a "no starter cranking for a warm restart attempt" problem, but it's a common thing here -- try a search on "solenoid terminal 50 white wire" for a bunch of prior threads describing the possible failure points from battery to starter.
One day, my 86 Mondial 3.2 would not start. It would not even crank. Nothing. I looked through the fuse box, and removed fuse #9, labeled "Cold Start Electro Valve." Upon inspection, it did not look to be blown. Then I cranked the car, and it started fine. Since the Mondial 3.2 basically has the engine as a 328, could one of you do a simple diagnosis and/or give me a recommendation for the next step to take? If the car is starting now, should I simply disregard the issue and simply not put the fuse back in? - Sam in Saratoga
Check out Steve's post just above yours. As he said - "There's no fuel injection problem that can cause a "no starter cranking for a warm restart attempt" problem..." Previously, in this thread, the cold start vlv was causing fuel delivery issues. I'd put the fuse back in and see what it does. Methinks that you might have a developing fusebox board issue instead.
