1980 Fiat Spider 2000 starting issues

[rawright]

Hello everyone this is my first post here

I am currently restoring my Mother in laws Fiat spider and I have noticed the car has starting problems, if it has been sitting unstarted for several days. If you crank the car for several minutes let it sit and then come back a few times the car will eventually start and then it starts fine until the cars sits again. I was thinking it sounds like a check valve problem but the car is fuel Injected and I am not even sure if it even has a check valve.

any help you could provide would be great!
Thanx in advance,
Robert

[spidernut]

It's a real common problem with the carb'd models. Check your check valves and the accelerator pump diaphragm. Either and both could cause the problem.

[rawright]

It's a real common problem with the carb'd models. Check your check valves and the accelerator pump diaphragm. Either and both could cause the problem.

This is a fuel injected model, does it even have a check valve?

[rlux4]

No, no check valve on the FI cars.
The component that is exclusive to cold starts is your cold start valve. It should spray for about 8 seconds or so to help the car during cold start ups. You would check it by taking it out, point it toward a container and have a helper crank the engine, see if it's spraying. You would check that it's getting signal by testing ther connector going to it. A noid light works best for this.
Does the car have slow starting after it's warmed up? How does it run once it's going?
Ron

[rawright]

Does the car have slow starting after it's warmed up? How does it run once it's going?
Ron

The car runs and starts good after it has been initially started. I ran the car yesterday and went out this morning and it started with no problems. If the car sits for several days though, you have to crank it over and wait a few minutes and then crank it over again and repeat this several times to get it to start. It sounds just like the starting problems I have read in posts on here that some of carbed cars have with check valve issues. If it was my car I wouldn't bother fixing it and just deal with the hard starts but because this is my mother in-laws weekend car it needs to be working properly.

Thanx for the repies so far,
Robert

[NitroDemon]

My '79 has a problem simmilar, if it sits too long my fuel lines seem to run dry. My fuel pump seems to be possibly a bit weak and in need of changing.. could possibly be something simmilar? But what do I know, Im a novice with these cars and really know very little. Good luck!

[So Cal Mark]

the FI fuel pump should have a check valve in the pump outlet so that the system holds pressure when shut off. To do any diagnosis you need a pressure gauge, a test light, noid light and multimeter, otherwise it will just be hit or miss

[BurbankJalopy]

Mark is knows a lot more than me, but thought I'd chime in anyway.....

I don't know if the fuel draining back would prevent it from starting. I know that my car started right up after a few seconds of cranking even though I had drained fuel all the way back to the tank, back when I had replaced the filter and lines. On diesel engines when this sort of drain back happens it is a problem to get it running again, but gas engines should fire right up regardless. I think maybe the fuel pump is weak or intermittent.

However to help rule things out, another easy way to check for fuel 'drain back' is: before you try starting it, crack open a fuel line in the engine bay. There should be a metal fuel line coming through the firewall, and you can loosen the connection there. There should be some fuel in it even after it sits a few days or weeks. If there's no fuel in it, it sounds like it is leaking back into the fuel tank.

[rlux4]

You're right Mark, I didn't think of the internal check valve in the fuel pump.
The way I check to see if there's fuel pressure at the engine is disconnect the rubber line going up from the fuel rail to the cold start valve. Be careful though, if there's pressure you'll get a pretty strong initial spray of gas when it comes off the nipple. I've tried to diagnose signal to the injectors with a test light and a multimeter but gave up and got a noid light when they proved too inadequate for the task. If you don't have a noid light, you can borrow a kit from a lot of auto parts strores. I got mine from Autozone. It's an indispensible tool for a FI car owner.
Ron

[narfire]

Lets check the simple things first. Under the intake manifold is a thermotime sensor. Make sure that conection is good, if not, no signal to the cold start vave.Not sure if they "go bad" or how to check unless you have a known working one.
I had an issue where the sensor at the coolant "T" conection had been knocked off from the hood liner. car would'nt start for a while then ran like poo.
The fi system I think is great and once running offers a realiable mode of getting gas and air to the engine.
I'd try Ron's suggestion and pull the cold start valve and make sure it's spraying fuel,kinda fiddly that lower allen bolt.

[So Cal Mark]

it's alot easier to check the cold start valve then to fool with the thermotime switch. If you don't have power and ground at the cold start inj, then go to the thermotime switch. These cars are hard to start cold if the cold start inj isn't spraying.
One big issue if the system doesn't hold pressure is hot restarts. A FI rail with no pressure is susceptible to vapor lock. Pressure raises the boiling point.

[Gunsmith]

Ok here is what it probably is. I say this because my FI car has the exact same problem. Check the Mass Airflow Sensor. If the car is having trouble starting when it is cold, unplug the big connector in the side of the MAS and start the car and feather it to run for a little bit. Then plug the connector back in. Some times you may need to do this a few times to get it to reset. Once it does it will run fine until it sticks again after sitting. Then order a new MAS if this works. This problem drove me and even my mechanic nuts until I unplugged the connector and it worked all of a sudden. These intermittent issues can just drive you nuts! Hopefully that is it.