I have a 1989 200 which on a cold start will crank for 5 to 10 seconds before the engine fires up. Once the car has been run for awhile, repeat starts are much faster. Could this be an indication that the bushings in the starter are wearing out? Or would a new set of igntion wires solve the problem? Any suggestions?

Rob

 

Forget the starter. That is not your problem. Possibly the residual fuel pressure, you have a bad check valve on top of the fuel pump, which I think I have.

Depending on where you go, an 8 to 15 buck item, installation, no idea.

On the other end, and more expensive, is if the injectors have lost their ability to hold presure, though I don't really think that would make for a long crank.

Cheers,

George

 

I recently replaced the fuel filter and the engine idle stabilized (idle was osilating before replacement) and the acceleration improved.
I never would had thought the check valve on the fuel pump would be the source of difficult starting, but then again I was suprised to find that a new fuel filter would stabilize the engine idle. The check valve is inexpensive and I think the fuel pump is accessible, so I might as well take up your suggestion.

Thanks George,
Rob

 

Rob,

The fuel pump IS accessible, under the back seat. But the instructions say to remove it and, when you do, DO NOT hold the fuel pump body in any type of vice, rather hold the valve in the vice and use either a strong grip, or a strap wrench to twist the pump from the valve.

The reason I mentioned the valve is that mine will crank and seem to catch, but if you leave off the key, dies. Hold the key, crank, seem to fire, seem to not fire, then in 2 seconds or so, catches and runs nicely. I THINK it is leaking residual pressure, and has to fill all the lines from the tank forward to the, what, 67 PSI?

Only reason I have not changed it is my local says he would have to order it.

Why it SEEMs to start, then die, I don't know, unless it's a short shot from the cold start valve.

Cheers,

George

 

Yikes, same problem with my 5000. Please post any tips if you folks get in there and replace the check valve. There must be a little trap door under the seat? No way in hell ford could have done that with my old mustang, that might require a little extra engineering and a couple more part numbers. Nice to hear the part is cheap for a change! Woooohoooo!!!

 

Dog,

That one, I am pretty sure of. Never been into a gas tank, but did have to do repairs on my Audi diesel, and, under the rear seat, is a round cover, 3 screws, or 4, that gives access to the fuel tank innards, pump and all.

And, you know only 2 screws anchor the rear seat in place, right, in the calf area of your leg if you sat there. Generally, the battery is there, but for some reason, on my diesels, battery was under the air cleaner. Even harder to change the battery than the air cleaner element.

I'll mail the pertinent pages, from Haynes, up to '88, if you need them.

Cheers,

George

 

Thanks George, if you have them handy, I will take them for sure. Seems like a cheap and easy thing to try before I even think about injectors.

 

Rob and Dog,

I have 12 pages on the fuel system, scanned and jpeg'ed to a total of about 1 gig. If you can handle it, just let me know. I'll send them as attachments.

These are from an '84 to '88 manual, I THINK they would be helpful, but they DO make changes between models.

Cheers,

George

 

George,

It would be great if you could email the pages from your repair manual. If you could save the images as PDF's I think that may work a bit better then jpegs, however my computer can handle either format. Look forward to reviewing the pages from your manual and thanks for the tip again.

Rob

 

PDF's tend to be huge. Its just silly. Hope neither of you are on dial-up...hehe. Please make sure you let us know how it goes if you replace the check valve and if it made any difference. Just curious, is your car a turbo/quattro/both?