1983 308QV Car has sat for 5 months thru winter. I started the car last week and there was no cold start increase in RPM, stayed at about 1K RPM and dipped occasionally lower. After warmed up car ran like crap, intermitantly missing and RPM dropping at idle, but when given gas would run way better. Took it back to the garage and started with draining old gas as I couldn't remember if I had used stabil last fall. Started the car, had high RPM warmup, and normal drop to 1K after warm up. Drove the car and all seemed fine. Next day try to start and same problem So pulled all plugs and cleaned them. Plugs were pretty dark, and front bank was worst and also were not gapped equally. Replaced plugs started car and still runs like crap, even trying to stall while driving. I have been looking at posts about the cold start system, and apparently with the system not working the car should run fine after warming up a bit. Not too clear on how the cold start could affect the car after being warmed up. Thinking the gas may have fouled the injectors?????? Any help appreciated. I have done oodles of work on the car but getting deep into engine electrics confuses the crap out of me.
Do some reading on CIS injection. See if you can find this booklet. It has great troubleshooting flow charts. It explains how the parts work. Image Unavailable, Please Login
A simple first step would be to add a high quality fuel injector cleaner to the gas and drive the car at higher speeds for a period of time. If this doesn't help with the problem, then the next step would be to run some diagnostic tests on the injection system. This might best be done by an experienced foreign car mechanic.
The good news for you is that, whether a US version or a euro version, a 1983 308QV (K-Jet without Lambda) has really no electrics in the injection system (other than some simple +12V heaters). Or maybe that's bad news as a poor warm-running condition typically can't be caused by a bad electrical connection or a failed relay/ECU/electrical gizmo...
I have a workshop manual but cannot find any section on the warm up system unless I am seriously missing something. I can't identify where all the components are located in the engine compartment. And not sure how the warm up injector works. Is it constantly spraying or only during warm up? I have searched the site and not found much information.
Also is the wired switch located on the coolant header tank normally open or closed when cold? What about the hosed switch on that header tank?
See Chapter D in the Mondial 8/QV 281/83 WSM -- a 1983 US 308QV is the same engine management system as a 1983 US Mondial QV: https://www.dropbox.com/s/z99soo68ny9n2qa/Mondial8qv_workshop_281-83.pdf?dl=0 For the wired switch in the coolant tank (the coolant thermoswitch): Cold = open Warm = closed but the cold-running warning light in your dash will give you the same information: If it is "on" during cold-running and "off" during warm-running = the wired coolant thermoswitch is working correctly. The hosed switch in the coolant tank (a pneumatic thermoswitch) is part of the EGR system -- see Chapter N in the Mondial 8/QV 281/83 WSM. However, this system (even if mucked up) wouldn't have much, if any, effect on how the car drives. If your EGR system is still intact, I'll be shocked .
Can anyone tell me if the Cold Start Injector runs continuously until the car is warmed up or does it run only momentarily when the ignition switch is turned. Also does the Cold Start Injector Relay (in the fuse box) actually have an effect on the Cold Start Injector?
The cold start injector should only squirt (i.e., have +12V between the two pins of the connector) during the first couple~few seconds of the first cold cranking attempt (when the coolant and the TTS are cold). If it is super cold, it might still fire for a couple~few seconds during the second cold-cranking attempt, but the internal heater in the TTS will warm it quickly and open the internal contacts. I believe your model (1983 US) has no relay involved in the cold start injector operation, but they completely mangled the relay figure and the names of the relays in your OM. Relay G and relay P have names that imply that they have something to do with the cold start injector, but they don't. If you look at the OM relay figure there isn't even a relay P shown. The relay labeled G in the relay figure should really have been called "the relay that actuates the fuel pump relay during starting, key in Pos III, so that the fuel pump always runs during starter motor cranking regardless of the state of the airflow meter safety switch, and disables the fuel pump relay to turn off the fuel pump if the safety switch is closed (engine is not drawing in air) and the key is in Pos II (run)".
Thanks...........I did notice the errors in the OM. I'm think I'm getting close to the problem, but can you tell me.........is the Cold Start Air Valve what actually raises the RPM at start up? My thermal switch on the coolant overflow tank is working and after a warm up period the yellow light does go off.
On the US version 1983, both the Cold Start Air Valve and the Auxiliary Air Valve raise the RPM at cold start-up. Many Owners disable the Cold Start Air Valve, or add an orifice restriction to the Cold Start Air Valve airflow path, because it raises the cold start-up RPM to a crazy high (unhealthy IMO) RPM.
The thermo time switch opens the cold start injector for up to 12sec depending on how cold it is. The pressure regulator (inside the distributor), does include two o-rings. When the gasoline pressure drops rhese o-rings close the return line of the distributor and the wur return line. This effectively prevents the gasoline from flowing back to the tank, and hence keep some pressure in the accumulators. Cold start and hot start issues are usually related to the thermo time switch or these o-rings.
