Your problem is almost certainly a lack of fuel on startup. Since someone
has fiddled with the in-tank fuel pump, I'm immediately very suspicious of
that area. Possible problems are:
Insufficient delivery of fuel during the momentary "purge" cycle when you
start to crank (the brief noise from under the hood), or
contaminated fuel filters as a consequence of the work done on the fuel
supply, or
goofy electrical set up providing the wrong supply to the replacement pump.
To confirm this diagnosis, the next time you experience this reluctance to
start, try the trick of dumping a small amount (say 2 OZ or so) of fuel into
the top depression in the air cleaner lid, momentarily loosening the wing
nut to let the fuel run down, and then immediately attempting to start the
car. If we're right, it will start right up.
Your statement about the starter quitting even though you hold the switch in
the start position is probably not related to your starting problem, but it
is definitely a problem, none the less. You need to find out why this is
happening.
You are going to need either a test light or a meter, a test light is a
better choice, and also cheaper. If you don't have one, either make one by
soldering pieces of wire to a small bulb (like a #1895) or buy a test light
at your friendly local auto parts place.
Put one terminal of the test light on the ground post of the battery, and
the other terminal on the starter relay terminal that goes to the starter
motor - this is the only large (#12) brown wire on the relay. This should
show the presence of 12 volts at any time that your key is in the start
position, if the car is in neutral or park. Now pay attention the next time
the starter does its "quit cranking" trick. If the light stays on but the
starter quits, there is a problem in the starter itself, or in the wiring to
it. If the light goes off, even when you are trying to keep cranking, there
is a problem with the starter relay, or in the things that connect to it.
Let's find out which it is before I type a whole book on this problem, only
to bore those who have already heard more than they care to hear about our
favorite models!
Dick Benjamin
----- Original Message -----
From: "Rob P" <fristpenny@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, June 29, 2004 12:13 PM
Subject: Re: IML: My new '82
> OK, this is my third attempt at a thank you and update, but I got bumped
> because of a spam attack on this hotmail account. Thanks Dick, Joel, Dave
> Grove and everybody for the tips.
>
> My car doesn't even momentarily start. It just cranks. It will usually
> start within 2 or 3 attempts, but the other night it took a solid 10
> minutes. Maybe 25-30 tries. That time when it fired up it smelled rich.
> Sometimes it smells like fuel, but when I took the air cleaner off it
seemed
> dry. The air cleaner seal/gaskets, etc. seem good. Once the car is
started
> it has never (knock wood) stalled and seems to run fine. I don't know if
> it's a characteristic of these cars, but the car only cranks a few times
> before it stops. It won't keep cranking and cranking as long as you have
to
> key turned to start.
>
> The car is stone stock with an alleged 41,000 miles, except for one scary
> reciept which states "3 hours convert to external fuel supply" I assume
> they ditched the in tank fuel pump. I have started to cycle the key
on-off
> a few times before I try to start it and it *seems* better, but it still
> will not start on the first try. I can hear the buzzing of the pump, but
it
> generally seems to be from the rear. My helper said they heard the under
> hood pump, but I couldn't. It seems like the fuel line isn't primed or it
> isn't getting a starter shot of fuel. I'll guess I'll try to dribble some
> gas down the air cleaner next time.
>
> Dick B. if you ever write the book on these, let me know, I'd like a copy.
> I read the collected e-mails before I bought my '83, but that one is
> converted so I managed to forget most of the EFI info. I'd llike to solve
> this so that I can move on to my other problems, like the dented front
end,
> JB Welded radiator and "chunky style" coolant. I drove it to work today
so
> I hope I'm getting home.
>
> Thanks again,
> Rob
>
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