I have a problem of long cranking after the car sits overnight. I have a fuel pressure gauge coming, but first the back story.
I recently replaced the fuel filter as a normal maintenance item along with some of the hose from the steel line to the engine. Started the car up, took it on a brief test drive, and all looked well. On the way to work the following day, started smelling gas. Found a hose clamp a bit loose, tightened it, all good. Filled the tank up, smell gas again. Put the car up on jack stands, can’t find a leak, strong smell of gas. Strong enough that I put a fan in the garage door to air out the garage. The fan happened to be by the right rear bumper. Continue to smell gas, now stronger. Finally traced the smell back to cracked hoses in the fuel tank vent system by the filler neck (my post about cutting those original equipment stainless steel crimp clamps). Replaced all the rubber hoses from the tank to the overflow can and to the filler neck.
So, the smell of gas is gone. BUT, now I get extended cranking after the car sits for several hours. Seems to start right up after sitting about an hour or so. Runs fine after starting. And after work last night, with the car sitting for about 90 minutes, I decided to check, in the off chance, some debris got into the cold start injector. Plenty of pressure in the hose going to the cold start injector. No obvious debris.
The in tank pump (lift pump?) seem to be working. I can feel it vibrating and hear it buzzing with the back seat out and access cover removed. All the hoses look good.
I would rather not simply throw parts at this problem. I’m looking for problem determination steps where this thread can be updated for the next guy. I’ve searched and found plenty of replace this or that without any objective problem determination process.
My plan now is to test the fuel pressure at the cold start valve (easiest to get to). If that is good, see if the pressure bleeds down over night. Cold start valve could be bad? Fuel pressure valve bleeding down or leaking? Drain back from the lift pump? There seems to be a pretty long list. I would like to pin it down!
Thanks for any suggestions. Or directions to a good problem determination process that I may have missed in my search.
I recently replaced the fuel filter as a normal maintenance item along with some of the hose from the steel line to the engine. Started the car up, took it on a brief test drive, and all looked well. On the way to work the following day, started smelling gas. Found a hose clamp a bit loose, tightened it, all good. Filled the tank up, smell gas again. Put the car up on jack stands, can’t find a leak, strong smell of gas. Strong enough that I put a fan in the garage door to air out the garage. The fan happened to be by the right rear bumper. Continue to smell gas, now stronger. Finally traced the smell back to cracked hoses in the fuel tank vent system by the filler neck (my post about cutting those original equipment stainless steel crimp clamps). Replaced all the rubber hoses from the tank to the overflow can and to the filler neck.
So, the smell of gas is gone. BUT, now I get extended cranking after the car sits for several hours. Seems to start right up after sitting about an hour or so. Runs fine after starting. And after work last night, with the car sitting for about 90 minutes, I decided to check, in the off chance, some debris got into the cold start injector. Plenty of pressure in the hose going to the cold start injector. No obvious debris.
The in tank pump (lift pump?) seem to be working. I can feel it vibrating and hear it buzzing with the back seat out and access cover removed. All the hoses look good.
I would rather not simply throw parts at this problem. I’m looking for problem determination steps where this thread can be updated for the next guy. I’ve searched and found plenty of replace this or that without any objective problem determination process.
My plan now is to test the fuel pressure at the cold start valve (easiest to get to). If that is good, see if the pressure bleeds down over night. Cold start valve could be bad? Fuel pressure valve bleeding down or leaking? Drain back from the lift pump? There seems to be a pretty long list. I would like to pin it down!
Thanks for any suggestions. Or directions to a good problem determination process that I may have missed in my search.
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