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starting issue with 1983 8V C900 turbo

I received the turbo C900 I've mentioned in a few places recently and it's got a problem starting. The starter works fine to crank the engine, but it sort of fires but sort of doesn't. I have checked the distributor, coil, etc. and made sure all the wiring is in place and not broken, etc.

Last night I got thinking that it might be the fuel pump relay because if I crank for about 10 seconds, let the key go, move back to off, then crank again, it fires straight away.

Is it possible that the fuel pump relay is not kicking in to start to fuel pump on the first attempt at starting? Looking at the schematics in my Bentley manual, the fuel pump should start as soon as the key moves into the 'run' position on the earlier 900's which don't have the fully-pressurised tank and single-stage fuel pump.

I know that on my 1985 900i the fuel pump runs for a bit then stops when the key moves to 'start'. On the 1983 900S the pump starts and keeps going. It could be a peculiarity of being a turbo-equipped C900 that's part of the key with the newly-acquired car...

I'll try changing the fuel pump relay later on just in case it helps.

Regards,

Craig.

Reply to
Craig's Saab C900 Site
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Or your fuel pump may not be delivering sufficient fuel? I know it is a different car. When I changed the fuel pump on my 95 9000 cse, the first thing I noticed was it started on the first crank whereas the old pump requires 6 or 7 cranks.

Why did I change the fuel pump? It was a wrong diagnosis so I won't get into that. The old pump has 128k miles in any case but working.

Reply to
yaofeng

I concur - check the fuel line pressure. I had a 1985 C900 8 valve with a worn out fuel pump check valve (after 190,000 miles). The fuel in the fuel line would drain back into the tank, so I would have to crank (let the fuel pump run) until the fuel line was filled again.

Reply to
ma_twain

I've got a CIS fuel system test kit here so once I fix a few things under the car I'll check the fuel-pump relay first, then hook up the CIS test kit into the fuel system and measure the pressures.

Thanks for the tips so far with this - I'll 'report back' when I've got more info. 8-)

BTW, I'd like to wish everyone a good Christmas and New Year on behalf of myself and my family. Unlike you northern hemisphere folks who get to experience the Coca Cola Season (aka Christmas) just like the man in red and white describes it, it's summer down here and we're going to have bushfire conditions today and tomorrow. Very hot! At least the drinks are cold. lol

Craig.

Reply to
Craig's Saab C900 Site

Always weirds me out when I get a Christmas card from a friend down under, Santa in shorts on a beach just isn't something I associate with christmas!

Reply to
James Sweet

And for us the reverse is true. Christmas with snow is just such a wacko idea (!) for us in the southern hemisphere! I get so utterly fed up with all the 'Christmas' shows on TV at this time of year which are generally almost all from the UK or USA and they all purport the 'white christmas' image. No wonder so many expat northern hemispherians seem to revel in the even more stupid 'christmas in July' which seems to be growing in commercialism with each passing year much like Easter (yet another useless holiday), etc.

Gasp - Christmas is meant to be a family time with no religious whirlwinding fed by the flames of Coke's marketting fires.

Craig.

Reply to
Craig's Saab C900 Site

I thought all Saabs started that way -- my 1985 C900 always has.

Reply to
Everett M. Greene

My '88 fires up within 2 or 3 revolutions of the crankshaft, if it's taking much longer than that then something is wrong.

Reply to
James Sweet

While snow would be nice, I think I can only remember one white christmas here, usually it's a wet muddy christmas. I don't see any slowing down of the commercialism, the stores here get filled with christmas stuff within days of Halloween, there's piles of decorations being peddled for every holiday anyone can think of these days. Seems like I spend a lot more time preparing than I do relaxing with friends and family around this time of year. At least the Saab hasn't needed any urgent work!

Reply to
James Sweet

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