I've been having some issues with starting my car recently. It always starts, but it coughs and sputters for a few seconds before idling properly. There is also a gas smell coming from the exhaust if the car sputters. The car starts great even if cold and restarted immediately. When the sputtering happens, it doesn't do it's 3000 rpm catylitic converter warm-up routine.

To give you fine troubleshooting rotorheads some background info., I got the injectors cleaned about 2 weeks ago. Starting wasn't a problem before or immediately after. There was one leaky and clogged injector( #2 primary). Reinstallation was done virtually hitch-free. I didn't observe any leaks. All of the vaccum hoses were replaced with silicone. EGR valve was replaced. Throttle body was cleaned. Throttle and cruise control cable seemed quite loose, so I tightened them up slightly.
Compression has been not perfect, but fair for 120,000 miles.

After installation, The tps and idle/mixture was adjusted. Car idles rock solid on 750 rpms.

What do you guys think? Fuel pump? Poorly cleaned injectors?
Bad muffler bearings? Change the air in the tires?

Thanks in advance for all help.

 

Check if your cats are clogged.

 

Just got Bonez superflo system from Rotary Performance about a month ago. I also have the racing beat 50mm cat back.
One thing I also noticed is that it seems to be worse when my fuel tank is near empty.
I'm perplexed.

 

Isn't there some valve thing on the end of the fuel rail you should check? From there i'd move to a purge valve, or anything that sends gas back to the tank; maybe something is messed up in the return, so when you crank it up and have low gas, there is a greater vacuum in the tank making it harder to pump gas out causing a sputter. Just my broken logic!



Joe

 

Ah yes. The infamous fuel pulsation damper. The retaining screw on mine wasn't attached, so I replaced that as well (Engine fires don't sound like a lot of fun).
Thanks for the logic stream. I'll investigate those things further.

Lars

 

I have an 88 na
it has been doing that for the past year. I've spent lots of money and put in a lot of time into diagnosing it

I've come down to either the emissions system or a neutral switch malfunction. It's really pissing me off. starting is getting progressively worse too. My next stage is to check emissions.

If I blip the throttle on a cold start it'll bump up and resume a 2k idle and be fine. Runs great too. I just can't figure out the poor starts, they sound so crappy, sometimes the car will stall out on cold starts if I don't touch the throttle.

My ACV only has 30,000kms on it
car is at an original 101,000kms

 

damn, sorry for digging up such an old thread.

I'm a dork.

 

OH OH OH i had the same problem!! I changed my air filter (from stock to K&N) that help a little bit. When i was messing with my altnator i broke my water thermote sensor. So i brough a new one from Mazdatrix. ANd now it starts up alot easier than before, even if is the first start of the day!! I don't want to advice people to throw parts at the car but this worked for me. NOw can someone please tell me why that sensor is the cause of the hard start?