1800ES poor starting when hot

[cassell]

Hi, can anyone assist me with this problem?

My 1800ES starts first time from cold, runs perfectly when warmed up, but refuses to restart after a short journey when the engine is hot. Allowing it to stand for about 5 to 10 minutes seems to 'cure' the problem and she starts perfectly well. This is very frustrating at times, particularly when you've only stopped for a short time to buy petrol etc.

I've checked over everything I can think of, even tried isolating the cold start valve just in case that was sticking and injecting fuel into the hot manifold. Sometimes when turning the engine over with the starter with no success, she bursts into life as I release the key, could this be linked to the fault?

Any suggestions to relieve my frustration will be appreciated.

Paul Cassell
VOC Member - 1800ES and S60 D5

[stuart131]

apologies if youve already checked this ,but could be as simple as blocked fuel filter .A friend of mine had a Mk 1V Zephyr that did exactly what you have described.The problem there was when engine was off ,fuel gradually seeped past the filter allowing enough fuel to start no problem ,but after a few minutes this was gone and promptly conked out again .In his case he had run the tank until nearly empty and we think that all the crud in the bottom was getting into the fuel delivery system.The tank was flushed ,new filter ,cleaned out the carb and it ran fine .It is also possible with some fuel filters (so Im told)that they can be fitted round the wrong way ,restricting fuel supply partially .
If not this it could be fuel vaporisation caused by the heat of the engine .I would check where the fuel pipe goes and try to shield pipe/or move it / with foil or that heat bandage stuff you can buy .Bandaging up the exhaust with heat retarder can reduce bay temeratures considerably ..
Would be interested to know how you get on ...hope I helped ,good luck

best regards

Hi I had a similar problem a year ago, I had put up with it for a while and after having to push the car a few times I decided to have a look. For some reason I decided to reset the ignition and to my horror I found that the rotor arm had a hole blown through it, and it looked like there had been a bonfire in there. So new rotor arm and dist cap cured my hot starting.

Good luck

Ian.

[cassell]

Hi Ian,

Thanks for the suggestion, I'd already examined the distributor cap and rotor when I checked the points gap and they seemed OK with no 'bonfire' symptoms! However, out of interest and for the sake of a few quid I decided to renew them.

I got a new rotor arm easily, but had to search for a cap. Fitting the rotor immediately brought an improvement as the engine started everytime I tried it when hot. When I added the new cap the improvement seemed to get better, so £8.76 later, I'm well pleased.

It isn't until I've compared old and new bits that you realise how worn the brass electrodes actually are. Hopefully the problem is now solved, thanks again for your suggestion.

Regards,

Paul