My FD left me stranded for the first time in 20 years yesterday.
I was running some errands. Here's the scenario.

• Drove for 20 minutes, arrived at my destination, turned the car off, dropped something off, restarted 5 minutes later while the car was hot.
• Drove for 5 minutes to office, worked for 1-2 hours, tried to start the car, crank no start. Car was cool.
• Tried starting over the course of the next 2 hours as the car continued to cool. Would not start at all. Strong crank and battery throughout. It didn't seem to flood at any point, which I thought was odd.
• @moconnor arrived at the scene to help. So did AAA after 1.5 hours. Couldn't start it but we were able to push start it somehow.

At first I thought the no start was because the car was hot and compression is a bit low. But given that it didn't start when the car was cold, I don't know if that is valid.

Any thoughts on this?
Thanks.

 

That is weird, it will push starts but won't start when the starter motor is cranking it?

How did it sound when cranking? If the starter motor is worn out (or weak battery), it might crank a tad too slow to fire, but you would probably notice the difference in how it sounds while cranking. When you have the car home, maybe try putting the battery on a charger to ensure you have plenty of juice, and try another overnight cold start?

 

you did mention in the recent past that you switched from 1300cc injectors to stock 850cc injectors?
I think the fuel vs coolant temp compensation may need adjustment or perhaps a complete retune.
it sounds like in certain conditions you are flooding the car

 

@Pete_89T2 Yep. Sounded very strong when cranking. The battery is pretty fresh - big red top.


@R-R-Rx7 Yes, but the stock ECU is still installed. Never got around to swapping the PFC back in. Given how many times I attempted to start it, I thought for sure it would be flooded but we never smelled fuel and the push start started right up. I guess it could still have flooded but we were not able to diagnose it properly.

Odd situation...

 

Did you only push start it one time? Or has it worked multiple times? May have just been a coincidence.

Start with the basics and check fuel and spark during cranking to see what you’re missing.

 

Yeah, only did this once.
That's enough really.
In 20 years that I've owned this car, this is the first time it has left me stranded.

 

^No fuel smell after multiple start attempts has me thinking it could be fuel pump or fuel pump wiring related - could be that the pump isn't getting enough electrical juice to keep the system pressurized while cranking, but it does get enough juice to run if you push start (since the starter isn't drawing any current).

 

I too second it could be a pump-related electrical issue - something similar happened to me long time ago, and it turned out one of the small connectors that's attached to the hanger inside the fuel tank was fried at the pins.

 

Interesting... Didn't think of that. It has a Bosch 044 that was installed 12-13 years ago. Stock wiring. I'll add it to the list of things to check. Thanks.

 

Next time it happens maybe try shoot a bit of carb cleaner into the intake and see if it fires, that will shed light on if it is a lean condition or not.