I recently bought a 1995 escort wagon. It has a funny quirk, if you park it for about 30 to 60 minutes it will crank over but not fire. If you turn the key off, and then to the on position and hold it the for 10 sec or so it will fire up. If it sits less time or longer it will start up right away. Kind of sounds to me like the fuel is draining out of vapor locking, and you have to run the fuel pump for a few secounds, but why not if it sits longer?
Terry
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You might have a leaky fuel injector that allows fuel into one cylinder, flooding it, and also allowing the pressure in the system to drop. Leaving the key on without starting the engine allows the fuel pump to bring the pressure up. Usually the fuel pump only runs a few seconds if the engine doesn't start, so I don't see why it must be exactly 10 seconds. You can test this by turning the key on several times for only 3-4 seconds in order to build up pressure. (You normally do this after changing a fuel filter.)
Holding the gas pedal to the floor while cranking will temporarily shut off the injectors while cranking the engine, in order to clear a flooded engine.
Bob
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