It's Alive! - {mostly}

All,

Today was a HAPPY day!
I drove my 1982 308 after a several year hiatus *and yes, it was as much fun as I remember*

My problem is that I have some sort of strange intermittant fuel problem on starts.
Sometimes she starts with no problems, other times it's nearly impossible.
I don't see a connection between hot starts and cold starts, it's always a crapshoot....

When I have problems the only way I can get the car to start is to do the following:
1. Disconnect the fuel pump cutoff wire that connects to the fuel distributor (two wire connector between fuel distributer and trunk wall)
2. Give her full throttle
3. Crank, crank and keep cranking
4. When she finally catches she runs very rough and I have to pump the pedal a couple times
After that she runs great.

This is not a spark issues (new plug wires, caps, rotors, coil plus, spark plugs)
I already replaced the fuel pump relay thinking that was the problem.

Any ideas or suggestions?

Thx,
Brian

 

new gas?

 

Ditto, if it's old gas that could be the problem; Smell it!

 

Old fuel first, then maybe stuck needle and seat?

Disconectring fuel pump, full throttle and a rough starts seems to say flooding to me?

 

Thx, for the suggestions but that wasn't it.

I ran the curvy back-roads long enough this weekend to get down to fumes - fun troubleshooting step
I put in a fresh tank of Super from 76 and still the same issue.

If it was the fuel filter I'd expect problems under hard acceleration or some other point as well, but maybe I'm wrong?

Any other advice or suggestions?

Thx,
Brian

 

Bad fuel won’t necessarily block the fuel filter, bad fuel has a less volatiles so won’t burn as well, it also has a nasty habit of depositing varnishes (sticky brown substance) and dry particles through the fuel system, but may be worth at least pulling the filter and checking that you can blow through it.

Ok, is there any sign of flooding when the problem happens? If so check needle and seats.

Not familiar with the 308 carbies, but do they have an anti run on valve (electrical valve to stop fuel on the carbies when the engine is turned off) if so pull them out and check they operate correctly.

If these check ok may be worth taking the tops off the carbies and looking for evidence of dry fuel varnish.

I am not an expert on 308's so will happily defer to others.

 

Suggest you confirm fuel filter isn't gunked up... you said the car sat for several years, yes?

Best,
Tom

 

Next time you go to disconnect something, try disconnecting the cold start injector.
Often it is the source of engine flooding and the prime cause of warm start issues.

 

Thanks Paul, I had found a thread from 2007 and am thinking that may be my issues as well.

By any chance, can you describe where the cold start injector is?

Thx,
Brian

 

Sorry thought we were talking about a 308 not a 308i please disregard all reference to "carbies".............. DOH

 

This picture of the cold start injector (circled) is from an adjacent thread
http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=940125&stc=1&d=1242767845

 

Fill it up with fresh gas and give it and Italian tune-up...140 down the highway...done.

 

82' 308s don't have carbs; they're injected.

 

I had the same problem. If the cold start injector is ok the most likely problem is the fuel accumulator .It is a resevoir for the cold or anytime starting. Fuel is stored under pressure and used as a primer like an accelerator pump in a carb.It is the easiest test to do.Go under the car by the fuel pump and loosen the clamp on the skinny tube at the rear of the accumulator and if gasoline comes out of the tube it is bad. This tube is a return to the fuel tank if a diaphragm leak occurs. You must have fuel pressure on start up as the fuel pump does not tsart running until the disc in the fuel injector is depressed or lowered by air drawing through it after start up or you depress it with your finger. That is why it starts for you now. Pumping the accelerator pedal does nothing as it just opens the butterfy throttle body.. If you hold the disc down more than a second you are flooding the engine and by pressing the accelerator down it gets enough air to unflood and start Give it a try.

 

Brian,

Thx for the lead and great step by step instructions.

Disconnecting my cold start injector didn't fix the issue, and I was going to start looking for a bad injector next.
Your explanation seems more likely so I will test this out next weekend.

During my searches I had come accross mention of the fuel accumulator but they mentioned fuel squirting out of them which seemed dangerous!

Have a great weekend,
Brian

 

If you end up needing a accumulator I have a brand new one that I ended up not needing, that Ill sell you let me know if you need it.

johnny

 

At the time the 308's were new Volkswagen was using the same Bosch design only smaller in overall size and volume. They has similar starting issues and introduced a kit for starting problems. While this was named a hot start kit it also helped when the car was cold. It contained a toggel switch a relay and a set of wires. All installed it allowed by hitting the toggle and closing the relay it would override the cold start valve. zoom zoom the motor would start. Might check on the VW rabbits websitesfor more information.

Howard Musolf
308gtsi.