HELP Will only start with starting fluid
 

O.K. guy heres whats going on. Its a 1990 TA with a TPI 350. She will only start if i give a shot of starting fluid through the throttle body. During cranking there is definetaly spark and i disconnected the fuel line and the fuel pump is pumping fuel ( i do not have a pressure gauge). Oh yeah and after starting the car runs just fine. Any ideas?

Re: HELP Will only start with starting fluid
 

Hmm, has the car been sitting a while? Confirm that the pressure is good at the rail, a gauge is cheap. Could be dirty injectors, just not spraying well at start-up, could also be low fuel pressure or filter. My Turbo Buick did a similar thing, and it was going lean under WOT. I tried a lot of stuff, including new injectors, and then found out that the rubber hose from teh pump to the fitting in the tank was split.

Re: HELP Will only start with starting fluid
 

No not sitting it is my daily driver. I changed the fuel pump with a stock delco 3 months ago and the fuel filter has under 10k miles on it. I guess i could try to get a pressure gauge but when i disconected the hose under the hood and tried to crank it gas poured out. Any other ideas.

Re: HELP Will only start with starting fluid
 

a new pump may have picked up some crap your old one couldn't. check the filter again just in case. had that happen already. you definitely need to be sure you're getting adequate fuel pressure too.

Re: HELP Will only start with starting fluid
 

Could also be the regulator, a pressure gauge is the most valuable tool a fuel injected owner could have :)

Re: HELP Will only start with starting fluid
 

O.K. it looks like the pressure gauge is a must have. I will pick it up thursday and see what happens. The pressure is supposed to be 42-45 correct? Thanks

Re: HELP Will only start with starting fluid
 

Oh I know what that is. The '89+ cars didnt have cold start injectors. The '88 and earlier ones did. The car will run on either prom. Problem is, with the earlier prom the shot of cranking fuel comes from the 9th injector, and on the newer TPI motors that is programmed into the regular injectors.

so if you have an '88 or earlier prom in your '89 or later TPI, then the only cranking fuel it will get would be from the 9th injector that isnt there. You arent getting cold start fuel enrichment. Get another prom. Ask me how I know :rolleyes:

Re: HELP Will only start with starting fluid
 

Good tips, had not thought of that one!