Hi guys,
New to the forum, brought my GTO ('94 mk2 twin turbo) about 2 months month’s ago and I’m loving it, even if fuel consumption is nearly breaking me!! 15mpg avg so far (is that normal?!)
Anyway, digressing slightly, the reason I’m posting is, occasionally my car struggles to start. Most of the time it booms into life first time, but once every 3/4starts it will go to start then die. Then it’ll turn over many times before finally juddering into life, usually with a little help from my right foot. it doesn’t seem to make a difference weather the car has been used recently and is still warm or if its been standing a few days.
Once running it idles fine and doesn’t seem short on power, however it does run very rich.
The car does have an ITG induction kit which I recently cleaned out, but that hasn’t made any difference. I haven’t checked the spark plugs yet, but they were only recently replaced a few months back by the previous owner.
So im just wondering if anyone may have had any similar running issue with theirs or if someone could point me in the right direction as to what it might be and any checks I can do?
You should really hope for a little more than 15mpg but it depends also on how heavy your foot is.
Has your motor had a good service?
Checked the starter motor?
Checked the spark plug setups?
Checked the leads?
It most likely did have the issue when I brought it but as it’s an intermittent problem it didn’t show anything on the test drive. It didn’t have it’s first wobbly until about a week or so after buying.
The car does run rich and the idle is maybe slightly lumpy, but the acceleration is smooth and strong and it never stalls. Just occasionally it really struggles to start and needs a bit of right foot to get going!
But I’ll check the front spark plugs tomorrow morning to see if there’s anything obvious.
Just been reworking some numbers, it’s actually more like 17mpg, still not great, but every little helps! Although my right foot does occasionally take on lead like qualities!
Servicing wise I have just changed the oil and oil filter and given the air filter a good clean. The only thing I’m not sure about is when the fuel filter was last changed. But I’ll check the history file when I get home, the prev owner documented everything! The leads are upgraded items, only a few months old, replaced at the same time as the sparks I think. The starter motor sounds strong turning over, but the engine just refuses to catch.
Just checked the history file, the stepper motor was changed about 10k ago, but I’ll give it a check anyway along with the spark plugs. Cheers for the link btw, really helpful.
I tried to start it to today, and it seemed to be even worse, turning over for ages before starting, then barely holding an idle before stalling. I’m noticing the problem seems to be worse when it’s warm.
It’s more when the air temp is warm, as I can leave the car standing for a few days and it will struggle to start or I could have literally just driven it and it’ll struggle.
This relay isssue does sound like it fits the bill though
Sounds like the same issue I have. My car stalls when I pull up to a junction and I sit with the clutch down and ready to pull away in 1st gear. The only way I can stop it is to sit with the car in neutral. The car also seems to run a little rich also.
