POOR STARTING RANGIE 3.9

[JIMBOBLY]

Hi all, I have 3.9 Rangie, starts fine when cold, but is a pain to start when hot, it takes ages, when it does fire it splutters, pops then picks up fine, all compressions are ok, any idea's would be helpful, thanks.

8-[ :? :^

[Range Rover Blues]

Not sure you needed the vote there Jim, but welcome to the club.

Hmmm, doesn't start when hot.

What grade of plugs have you fitted?

Does it run fine once started?

Has it got Cats?

have you serviced it? (air, oil, fuel filters plus cleaned the crank vent filters)

Does it idle smoothly at a constant speed

does it go like stink, or use a lot fo fuel?

Is it loosing water?


You've done a comp test, do a spark strength test when hot, check the leads and the dizzy cap. There ares ome tatty parts out there but TBH it would missfire at high revs if it was one of the commmon ignition issues.

[JIMBOBLY]

THANKS FOR REPLYING MATE,I HAVE DONE ALL YOU HAVE SAID,IT GETS SEVICED EVERY 6000MILES,I EVEN CHANGED THE COIL,CHECKED THE CAP AND ROTOR ARM.WHEN THE OLD GIRL IS RUNNING(HOT)IT GOES LIKE STINK,HOVERS BETWEEN 15 AND 17 TO THE GALLON,SO ABOUT RIGHT,THE REASON FOR THE COMPRESSION TEST,WAS I THOUGHT THE CAM MAYBE WORN A LITTLE,ITS DONE 103,000 MILES.ALSO WHEN IT FIRES UP,IT STINKS LIKE IT IS OVER FUELING,BUT MAYBE JUST CAUSE IT HAS BEEN CRANKED OVER ALOT.ITS NOW A CASE OF TRYING THE MORE EXPENSIVE PARTS,SUCH AS THE STEPPER MOTOR,AIR FLOW METER,COLD START INJECTOR,OR MAYBE EVEN THE ECU,WHAT YOU RECKON,AS FAR AS THAT VOTE THING MATE,I DONT KNOW WHAT IM DOING HALF THE TIME,ITS LIKE GIVING A FISH A BICYCLE,HA HA,THANKS,JIM.

[Range Rover Blues]

Erratic idle might suggest the idle stepper motor, fuel smell could be a worn injector, TBH the first sign of cam wear is excessive fuel consumption followed by noise at the tappets stop spinning, 15mpg doesn't sound bad.

Here's a thing, the fuel rail can overheat when the engine is stopped after a run, mine are both insulated.  The ECU will run the airconn fans whenthe engine is stationary if the fuel railon the engine goes above 60Deg IIRC.  COuld be you have a heat problem :-k

[JIMBOBLY]

i think you could be right mate,about the heat problem,thinking about it more,it isnt as bad to start,perfect sometimes in fact,if i have just stopped it,say at a petrol station,it will fire perfect,leave it more than 10mins,its another story,thanks for youre help,jim. :D

[digger]

see jim we are a bit more helpful and friendly than that other club u joined 

[carracarra13]

ours is when hot give it a couple of mins and all ok Ive put it down to every truck has its querks   :D

[craig_midz]

mine had same problem an was the ignition module on side of dizzy an only reason i found this out was i wasnt gettin a spark when the car was hot

[JIMBOBLY]

it could well be the problem mate,never thought of that,cheers mate,i'll have a look tomorrow :D

[Range Rover Blues]

I have a mate who used to own a Transit that wouold start first go when cold, start fine when hot, but if he left it for 20 minutes once hot ti wouldn't start.  So if he stopped by for coffee he'd end up staying for dinner :lol:

Turned out to be compressionon the TDi, it was just bad enough that the oil would seal it when cold, it would start fine when hot but if it cooled for 20 minutes he got no compression and the oil in the bore had thinned right out and drained away.

Not that I want to worry you, just sometimes it's the really weird things that cause it.

[Rainbird]

not wanting to hijack the thread, but a question for RangeRoverBlues.....

What did you use to insulate the fuel rail as it sounds like a similar problem to my 3.5?

[Range Rover Blues]

Mine is insulated with a fire resistant material, it has a silver backing to reflect heat and looks not dissimilar to exhaust bandage.  i think you can buy it from boy racer shops :-k

[Rainbird]

Thanks, I'll have a butcher's and see what I can find.
btw, your avitar looks like you've got clear indicator lenses on your Rangie, or is that just the mud.  If they're clear, where'd you get them or did you make them from using side light lenses glued in place of the orange ones?

[Range Rover Blues]

That's mud I'm afriad, I'd love a pair of clear ones and I'm surprised no-one ever sold them.  I've seen some made using the lense form an ealry RRC (detatchable) cut to fit but they didn't bear close scrutiny.  I've got a pair of ealry lamps complete with faded lenses and that's as close as I've got.
They are for my LSE BTW, it's black with black interior, black wheels and when I get round to it black door handles (Discovery) so the only colour on the front is the indicator.