Need hive mind diagnostic - fuel delivery issue I think

[tista]

Thanks in advance for any and all help.

First off let me say - I do not have pressure gauges and do not know how to test fuel pressures cold/hot, etc. I KNOW that it is hard to diagnose CIS issues without these important data points and will endeavor to acquire and learn how to use said instruments.

In the mean time: Had a hard cold start issue - had to turn the car over 4-5 times to get it to catch and start and then it would idle very low for a while until it warmed up. Car was like this for years. But it ran great and started up when warm very easily 99% of the time.

Then it was hard to start warm a few weeks ago. Very slow to start and ran poorly for a minute or two and then smoothed out. But after that - the next day in fact, the cold start was hard and the car would not idle properly or let any throttle enter the picture.

So I pulled the WUR out and took it apart and cleaned all the little bits and put it back together - car started better than ever and ran. But it stumbled a little bit at 3K RPM.

OK. Replaced fuel filter and removed and inspected Accumulator. Accumulator would take a fair bit of air pressure and none of it came out the bottom - when I removed it there was quite a bit of gas in the bottom of the accumulator, but when I researched this, Tony had made quite a post about the reality of this happening even with a good accumulator.

OK. Car was working. Drove it to town and parked. Went to restart - just turned over. A lot. Tried like 6 times over 10 minutes - 15 second cranks. Nothing.

Then I moved the car using the starter motor into a better position for the flatbed that was on the way. When I did this, the car very slowly started and ran. Drove home no problem - except, high idle: 2000RPM - that was new after this funky restart.

Any ideas? I'm about to replace the accumulator and Fuel pump and see what happens - they are both over 15 years old, I would guess.

Thanks!

[PeteKz]

First: What year and how many miles on your car? Put that in your profile or signature line. What previous CIS work have you done?

Second: Hard restarting when hot is typical of a bad FA, but not hard cold starting. It's still likely that you need a new FA. If it's original, replace it even if it's still "good." At this age, they are failing with regularity (probably accelerated by the ethanol contamination in current fuel). To test, disconnect the the bottom (drain) connector from the FA, plug the line, and run the pump. If you get fuel out the bottom of the FA, it's bad. Do this before chasing the other components. If you still have hard warm starting, next up will be the check valve on the pump. Do not buy a pump "just because". It may be bad, but do your troubleshooting first. Just buying new components and putting them in will complicate your troubleshooting process. Not to mention waste money.

High idle: Possible that the auxiliary air system is stuck open (it provides extra air when the engine is cold to help it start and run). The deceleration valve could be sticking too. Ad don't overlook the simple stuff--does the throttle linkage have enough slack to return all the way to the stop, plus a little bit more?

Become familiar with this Jim's Basement Workshop CIS Primer (now maintained by rarlyl8). You will find the pressures and other specs there:
https://cis911primer.com/home.html
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[boyt911sc]

Tista,

I just posted how to solve your CIS problem in ClockMike’s thread. You have very similar problem: RESIDUAL PRESSURE LOSS.

Tony

[tista]

Thank you. I will explore these ideas further.