9A (KE-Jet) won't start - but will with FP relay removed

[Trev16v 0]

Hello,

 

For several days I have been trying to get my wife's Corrado 2L 16V (9A, KE-Jetronic) to start.

 

I have only just replaced the ABS unit on this car. During replacement of the ABS unit, I only had to disturb very few engine components: the distributor cap, and part of the inlet pipework.

 

Car turns over but now totally refuses to start. You get a few slight firing attempts perhaps, usually when I try to start it after drying the spark plugs. But after a few cranks, it keeps spinning over without any signs that it is starting to fire.

 

Spark: I have a very good bright spark at all spark plugs. The spark plugs were tested by grounding them to the top of the head. This eliminates ground issues, and shows that the distributor and hall sender are good. (I had also tried a new distributor and coil from my 16V G60 previously, just to completely eliminate them.)

 

Fuel: The spark plugs get very wet, very quickly. It's fuel, and it evaporates off them as soon as they are taken out. Strong fuel vapour out of the exhaust after cranking for a long period. There is definitely fuel going in, and seemingly quite a lot of it.

 

 

This morning I took the spark plugs out and dried fuel off them (yet again). The engine was also turned over for about a minute with the plugs out and fuel pump relay removed to totally dry out the bores.

 

Spark plugs put back in. FP relay left out. The engine actually started and ran very nicely for about three seconds, running of course off the residual fuel pressure that had been in the system since the last starting attempt (which was the previous night). I put the FP relay back in and tried again; this time it almost started but then it reverted back to just spinning over without any signs of firing. I have not taken the plugs out again yet, but when I do, I know that they will be extremely wet.

 

It seems like there is excess fuel going in when I attempt to start. This car WAS perfectly fine, and has been fine in one and a half years of ownership. Now it is suddenly like this.

 

Any ideas please? The only idea I have at the moment is to ensure that I haven't caused damaged to any of the wiring associated with, say, the throttle position sensor, etc.

 

Thanks

 

Trev

[aide 0]

vacuum leak, overfueling (fuel pressure on fuel distributor) or timing out would be my not very good guesses

[Roger Blassberg 0]

When you removed the distributor cap to do the ABS work, perhaps you inadvertently dislodged the rotor arm so that the timing is now out of adjustment.

 

Best wishes

 

RB

[Supercharged 2]

Has the ignition switch ever been changed?

[dirtytorque 0]

coolant temp sensor wire/earth not be damaged dislodged?

Weird.

[Wullie 1]

Does the 9A have a cold start valve? Could be stuck open and just pumping fuel into the engine.

[Trev16v 0]

Gents,

 

Many thanks for the suggestions. And yes, this really had turned out to be a very weird situation.

 

I had spent about two whole days trying to get that car to start. As I said, what was happening was that I was getting a very good spark and plenty of fuel into the engine. On every attempt to start, the plugs would be wet. On that occasion where I removed the fuel pump relay, it initially started and ran for a few seconds on the residual pressure. With the FP relay back in, it almost started but then went back to how it was.

 

In accordance with the advice kindly given above I did check the temperature sensor. The resistance across it was approximately 2.80K at ambient temperature. I don't have the temperature / resistance graph for this sensor to hand, but 2 to 3K at ambient sounds about right for a typical Bosch curve.

 

Anyway, what I did was I removed the FP relay again. And sure enough, it started and ran for a few seconds. But what I did this time was I restarted the engine another five or six times. Each time, it ran. I then put the FP relay back into the fusebox, and then the engine started and ran absolutely fine. And it has done so ever since without problems.

 

This has been so utterly bizarre. I reckon that the process of washing the brake fluid residue from the engine bay caused moisture to enter the distributor cap, and this possibly caused non-fire and thus engine flooding to happen. But what I am wondering is perhaps I never sufficiently cleared the engine of fuel. At one stage I turned the engine over without the spark plugs - surely this would clear the bores sufficiently. But no, it seems that I needed to start the engine several times, until the system pressure really had totally gone. Then fit the FP relay, and off she goes.

 

:cuckoo:

 

Trev