Starting when hot

[iainmclean]

Hi,

My 90 turbo starts ok when cold but after it warms up it can take a while to start again. Does this sound familiar to anyone? It had a C service last year and the A service 4 months ago.

Thanks

[jonwat]

Yes, especialy the carburated ones.

Lotus fitted a purge pump which draws the hot air out of the air box for a few minues after turning off, maybe your pump has packed up.

Cheers,

John W

[iainmclean]

Thanks John,

Is it a big job to replace the pump?

Iain

[superdavelotus]

It could be anything. We need more symptoms.

It could be purge pump, engine temp sensor, vacuum pipes, throttle jack, leads, coils

Will it start when hot?

If not, how long do you have to leave it before starting again?

Is it temperature related?

Do you use your foot on throttle when starting or not?

Do you have a working choke and is this engaged or not?

Dave

[iainmclean]

Hi Dave,

It does start when hot, but I need to use quite a bit of throttle. I do mostly short distance town work, so there is a lot of stopping and starting. I find that the more stops I make the longer it takes to start. The choke is fine as far as I know but I only use it to start when very cold.

Another symptom (which may be nothing to do with it) is that, again when hot, if I take my foot of the throttle to slow down, occasionally the battery light comes on and the engine dies. So far I have always managed to get going again, but I am worrying in case it is getting worse. I put a new battery in about a year ago.

Thanks

Iain

[superdavelotus]

Hi Iain,

It sounds like your idle is too low.

It's still difficult to diagnose but you need to check you vacuum pipes.

Does your revs rasie on a cold start? Can you see if the throttle jack works? It's at the front of your engine on top connected to an aluminium bracket. This may have been bent away from throttle which can easily be bent back.

You also need to check the cold and warm start system which comprises of vacuum pipes and valves. There is a green plastic valve fixed to the top of you engine underneath the plenum which has three vacuum pipes coming off it.

One goes to throttle jack and I think other goes to distributor which advances timing (cold start) and then when warm retards it (hot start). Iam not sure that if it wasn't flicking over and kept advancing timing, whether this would cause your hot starting problem.

Check you tell if your engine is running smoothly or lumpy at idle? I.e can you tell if a vac pipe has come off?

There are so many things to start checking, if you can't sort it quickly yourself then it may be wise taking to a garage as I may be sending you on a wild goose chase!

David Walters

[iainmclean]

Hi David,

Thanks for the advice, it is a bit much for me so I will have a word with the garage.

Cheers

Iain

[Sparky]

There's a very friendly 'garage' up the road in Watford that would happily give you a quick check and diagnosis...

[iainmclean]

Hi Sparky,

Any more details?

Thanks

Iain

[Sparky]

Yup - me!

PM me and we can organise something if you'd like. Busy with another one this weekend, but could fit in a quick once-over maybe.