308 GTBi cold start injector sprays when engine is hot.

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The coolant sender is probably the fix for your cold start valve...I believe it is triggered by that.

 

Is the cold start injector stuck open?

 

The logic for the 308i thermoswitch mounted in the coolant tank is:

cold = open
warm = closed

so your having this permanently "closed" with a jumper won't cause the cold start injector to fire inappropriately during warm restarts (but do get that fixed/replaced).

However, there is another "cold start thermoswitch" on your model (item 19 in the jpeg) that should have the logic:

cold = closed
warm = open

If this gizmo is (wrongly) stuck "closed" all of the time, it will cause the cold start injector to fire during warm restart starter cranking (although clarify what Toby asked -- does it spray continuously when warm or only during starter cranking when warm?). The jpeg doesn't give a very clear picture of where it's located, but it should be somewhere in the water pipes/housings on top of the engine (i.e., where the hot coolant exits the cyl heads). It should have two terminals each with a single wire - one N (black) wire and one RV (red/green) wire.

Good hunting!
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The cold start injector will always get 12 volts to one wire when the starter is cranked, the other wire gets a ground through the thermo-time switch when the temperature is appropriate. You have a bad thermo-time switch, or a short to ground in the wire between the switch and cold start injector, or a possible bad injector (shorted to ground internally). If the injector was physically stuck open, it would spray all the time, not just when cranking. Lots of Bosch fuel injection cars use thermo-time switches, look for one by the Bosch part number on the part. I don't think there are very many variations.

 

Need to make a correction -- should have said: "It should have two terminals each with a single RV (red/green) wire".

 

Do you have a rough idle? Poor gas mileage? Those could point to a stuck injector. If it just squirts during cranking then I would say replace the thermo-switch. But eurogt4's advice is good, check your wiring.

 

Can somebody tell me or show me where the cold start injector is so I can try disconnecting it?

Thx,
Brian

 

Circled below. You should have a blue connector there. Carefully take the blue connector off. These like to break if abused, and you don't want that. There is a wire spring that helps hold it on, you might want to releive a little pressure on the end of it if you are having trouble getting it off. You will notice that the injector has a fuel line running from the fuel distributor and a wire to the blue connector. That's it.
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Brian,

Thanks for the great picture and warning on how delicate it is!

I just disconnected it and went for a 10 minute drive so I could test the warm start.
After getting home and sitting for a couple minutes she started much easier though I did have to give her a tiny bit of throttle.

I'll test it a few more times then hopefully post a final update later in the week (for those that do searches in the future)

Regards,
Brian

 

When my cold start injector was spraying hot the cause was a faulty thermo-time switch which is a $90 part in the valley just behind the oil filter.