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85 240 DL won't start first try, but second time every time

Hi there,

I have posted quite a bit over the past couple weeks about my buddy's 85 240DL Sedan that I just rebuilt for him. Trying to get a feel for how the car should be acting....

I started by running all the old gas out of it from sitting for the last 9 months. That is done now, and fresh gas is in the tank. It runs much better.

Before the old gas was gone, it was impossible to time the engine properly. Now we have tried again, I think we may be 1 tooth off, as the distributor is all the way advanced, and it still seems a little off. Any comments about this would be appreciated.

Now I've noticed that the car does not like to start on the first crank. I get in, turn the key to the ON position for a few seconds, then crank it over for about 5 seconds. It turns and turns, but does not catch. Second try, usually it starts within the first 2 turns over (1-2 seconds or so).

Any ideas? All ignition components have been replaced with the rebuild. We patched up the ignition wiring harness, so there are no problems there. There is a new ECU wire harness.

I do smell some unburned fuel.

Any ideas are appreciated.

Thanks t

Reply to
disallow
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oh ya, and the main relay was replaced during the tune up as well.

t
Reply to
disallow

This is usually a symptom (and shadetree diagnostic) of pressure in the fuel rail bleeding off. The first attempt gets the fuel pump running to rebuild the pressure but the ECU has already gone off searching for the correct setting to make it fire. The second attempt starts fresh with pressure in the rails and it fires right up. Even a half second of cranking the first time will trigger the pump to run long enough to make it fire the second time.

The most common cause is leakage in the fuel pump output check valve, but other leaks (like injectors dripping) can do it. With the history of funky gas, it could be either. If you haven't run injector cleaner through it yet, this would be a good time to do that. Let it consume a tank of treated fuel and see if it still misbehaves.

Mike

Reply to
Michael Pardee

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