Starting problem.

[gitser]

hi all, just wondering if any one out there can give me a bit of help/ advice. i have a 01 fabia 1.4 and latley its been giving me problems starting. sometimes when i try to start up it shudders like the entire engine is going to burst out thru the bonnet and then stops dead. it may take 3 or 4 atempts to get it started. its not a cold morning thing as it happens in warm weather as well. also it only happens intermitently. some times i feel that it may be a feul supply problem but i dont know enough about the mechanical end of things so this is purly a guess on my behalf. anybody out there experiance this before or have any idea what might be goin on? i'm due to bring it back to the dealer in about 2 weeks time and i'd like to have some idea as to what i'm talking about when i go. any help would be appreciated, thanks.

[reflex88]

First thought is your coolant temp sensor..

Mine went funny and made starting almost impossible.. at random.. and then, once started..huge plooms of black smoke for first couple a mins. Once your motors going is it idling quite high?

It wouldn't start because the ECU was getting the mixture wrong as it thought the temp was something completely different to reality.

Does it feel like the chokes pulled out to far (if it had a manual one).. if it does this could well be the issue.

Rob.

[fordfan]

Originally Posted by reflex88

First thought is your coolant temp sensor..

Mine went funny and made starting almost impossible.. at random.. and then, once started..huge plooms of black smoke for first couple a mins. Once your motors going is it idling quite high?

It wouldn't start because the ECU was getting the mixture wrong as it thought the temp was something completely different to reality.

Does it feel like the chokes pulled out to far (if it had a manual one).. if it does this could well be the issue.

Rob.

I agree, even though the sensor may not be showing a fault I have seen some where the readings have been all over the place and clearly not representative of the true coolant temperature.

[gitser]

Thanks Reflex, that sounds quiet like whats happening. at least now i might have an idea of what their fleecing me for next week when it goes for service.

[Duggie]

Yep, mine did this, I replaced the temp sensor located on the left (from driver's POV) of the engine module and everything was sorted. Should be around £25 for the sensor and around 15 mins labour.
Hope this helped.