I have a '01 Z24 with the 2.4 engine currently with 99,000 miles. For the last 20,000 miles or so I have been expereincing the following problem, which has become progressivly worse over time:
Once the motor has been at operating temps for sometime and has been parked for awhile (typically under an hour) the car will be difficult to start and will just crank but will usually finally catch after a cranking continuously for about 5 seconds and will sputter for 10 seconds and then return to normal idle. If I press the gas pedal down some (not all the way to the floor) to start it, it will start almost immediately and will run fine, no sputter or anything.
This issue only occurs when the car has been driven, parked and you get back in to start it (like after you do your shopping), however it starts fine when the engine is cold. As I stated, this started happening about 20,000 miles ago and the hard starting has gotton much worse now.
Not sure where to start with diagnosing this, but because of how expensive it is to get it looked at by the dealer, I'm willing to take on the work myself, at least to a point. If anyone has any ideas/input, I would greatly appreciate it. It sounds like a fuel issue to me but not sure what to check.
I would do a pressure check on fuel pressure.I would think if ur fuel filter is WAY old change it out.But I would lean strongly to the fuel pump starting to get weak or ur filter has a blockage and preventing fuel to apply proper pressure.Start cheap with the filter if it is old and if u have replaced it with in the time frame u suggested u had the problems could be the pump on it's way out the door.When the pump does die the car will not run at all.That is what comes to mind with ur specifics at the time.Just having to pump the fuel pedal makes me lean strongly towards a fuel pump going or the fuel filter.Do the filter first,then if no change check the fuel pressure for the pump if it is not with in spec, U will have to drop the fuel tank to replace the fuel pump.I do not know the specs for ur yr model on fuel pressure.OK
Maybe cleaning out the throttle body blade with TB cleaner would help. It couldn't hurt. There might be enough sludge/deposits in the TB bore & blade to hinder starting the car.
Yeah, I did replace the fuel filter, hoped that would fix it but no change. Also sprayed down the throttle body with TB cleaner some time back, maybe 20,000 miles ago. I'll have to figure out how to test the fuel pressure. Was hoping maybe a leaking fuel injector was the cause, but don't know.
I have the same problem with my 96 2.2. It takes for ever to start but not all the time. I changed out the fuel filter last week since I haven't changed it since 2007. I thought that corrected the problem but it didn't. I also have this strong gas smell when I park the car. I checked for leaks arond the injectors and fuel pressure regulator and found nothing. But around my vacuum harness on top of the throttle body there are traces of what looks like gas. Does anybody think that this could be my problem or does it point to the fuel pump?
Im having the same problems and cant figure it out either. Any one of you guys figure your problem out?
check fuel pressure! If you are only having this issue after the car has been running for a while, the fuel pump may be fatiguing after long runs. You can do this by unscrewing the bolt that leads to the fuel rail and connecting it to a fuel pressure gauge. You can get them from autozone for just $30. You can probably get them else where for cheaper.
i haven't gotton around to figuring out the problem with mine yet, but not that its getting warmer out (finally) i'll do a fuel pressure test and see. i'm thinking the fuel pressure regulator could be the culprit too, but we'll see
Well me and a friend of mine where looking at my car 3 days ago and he said the f.p.r was probally bad so we checked it out. We took the vacuum hose off of it and started the car and he seen gass coming out of the top of the f.p.r. so we said it was bad. about 30-45 sec. later with the vacuum hose still off gas started poring out the top of the f.p.r. so we no its bad for sure and thast why the engine is getting flooded and smells of gas all the time when it sit for a bit. I havent changed it out yet but i will soon, so i would check that out if i where you. Hope that helps.
i have a 99 z24 that ive replace the regulator on it 2 times now. seems to not fix it so im going for the filter next. Im really hoping the pump isnt bad because ive never toar out one before. it starts faster when gas pedal is pumped and sometimes just starts right up. It sputters when you put the pedal down but when you go only half way, it runs fine. Not sure what to think of it. I also have a valve cover gasket leaking into the first spark plug so i know thats causing it not to start right also. i need to pull the spark plug and drop the oil and replace the gaskets but i cant quite figure out how to get them out.
has anyone figured out what causes this? I have a 99 Z24 that seems to be doing the exact same thing as the original poster. after it was hard to start the first time(a few days ago) I took it home and tried starting about 4-6 times over a 3 hour time period and it started a little harder than normal but not as bad as is it was the first time it started.
also the next day I took the IDI cover off and wiped of all the oil from the valve cover and checked to see if the springs were all in the boot right and I noticed that one of the plastic sleeves over the rubber boot was loose. I pulled it back up, and put the IDI cover back on then started the car up. the car ran perfectly fine started great didnt bog at all. started it about 4 more times and it did fine never missed or bogged at all. well this morning I started it and it ran fine, but I noticed that on the highway when I let off of the gas it would have a slight jerk, every time I let off the gas. well I park it for about 5 minutes and the car doesnt want to start at all. I had to give it gas to get it going. If i hold the starter for 5-10 seconds it will finally start up but run rough for about 5 more seconds. car has really seemed to get extremely bad in just a days time. anyhelp would be greatly appreciated.
Jeremy Stevenson wrote:has anyone figured out what causes this? I have a 99 Z24 that seems to be doing the exact same thing as the original poster. after it was hard to start the first time(a few days ago) I took it home and tried starting about 4-6 times over a 3 hour time period and it started a little harder than normal but not as bad as is it was the first time it started.
also the next day I took the IDI cover off and wiped of all the oil from the valve cover and checked to see if the springs were all in the boot right and I noticed that one of the plastic sleeves over the rubber boot was loose. I pulled it back up, and put the IDI cover back on then started the car up. the car ran perfectly fine started great didnt bog at all. started it about 4 more times and it did fine never missed or bogged at all. well this morning I started it and it ran fine, but I noticed that on the highway when I let off of the gas it would have a slight jerk, every time I let off the gas. well I park it for about 5 minutes and the car doesnt want to start at all. I had to give it gas to get it going. If i hold the starter for 5-10 seconds it will finally start up but run rough for about 5 more seconds. car has really seemed to get extremely bad in just a days time. anyhelp would be greatly appreciated.
I would try what i did and take the vacuum hose off the top of the fpr and start it up and see if any gas comes out the top of the vacuum line on the fpr. It came out of mine and after i shut it off about a min later gas was coming out the fpr pretty bad and thats what was flooding the engine and making it hard to start.
^^^That's crazy!
I was gonna say to run some carb cleaner thru it as its running, you might have some carbon buildup that is affecting its ability to start.
I had a friend who took her car to 2 different places cause her car wouldn't start. They did this and that, and couldn't figure it out, after being charged over $500 for pep boys to drop her tank and "clean" it, it still didn't run. I had it towed to my house. I ran a fuel pressure check, checked and cleaned the plugs, blew out the cylinders of any junk, ran a compression test, and then let it sit overnite to dry out (It had been started a lot that day and the amount of fuel just sitting in the cylinders was crazy).
I had just changed the plugs, wires, and coils 3 weeks before.
The next day I put it all back together. Go to start it, nothing. I said screw it, sprayed a ton of carb cleaner down the throttle body, sat on the starter until it caught, let it run, sprayed more carb cleaner, its run ever since.
She asked me how much she owed me, I said 3 bucks, and told her what I did to get it running. Needless to say she was not amused at all by the actual shops that looked at her car. Now I spent probably, 4 hours on the car and I got paid werse than a asian child werking in a sweat shop for nike but I felt bad for her. Wait, I think I'm getting off track here.
Try what onebadz said and try the carb cleaner too, can't hurt.
okay just two questions what is f.p.r. and where is it located? I will try this tomorrow before I decide to take it to a shop then. and I also sprayed my throttle body about 5000 miles ago or so when I intalled my intake, but I guess it couldnt hurt to try it again. I appreciate the help guys.
Jeremy Stevenson wrote:okay just two questions what is f.p.r. and where is it located? I will try this tomorrow before I decide to take it to a shop then. and I also sprayed my throttle body about 5000 miles ago or so when I intalled my intake, but I guess it couldnt hurt to try it again. I appreciate the help guys.
F.P.R. is Fuel Pressure Regulator and it is located on the left side of the fuel rail witch is right about the intake manifold. The fpr with have a black vacuum line that conects to the throttle body, just disconect the black hose that goes to the top of the fpr and see if it leaks gas. Thsi is twice ive had a fpr go bad on me and its did the same thing twice with hard starts. Try that and i hope it works and solves your problem.
okay I checked the fpr twice this morning once while the engine was cold and once after it had warmed up a bit, neither times did any gas leak out. but I noticed with the motor ice cold its starts up great no problems at all but as the motor warms up it seems to start bogging and missin more and more, and it seems to be getting worse its also died a few times on idle if i dont rev it up. so I guess I'll do some more searching and keep tryin to figure it out today. but i appreciate the help.
ok after changing the coolant temp sensor, cleaning the throttle body, air filter and replacing a vaccuum hose and still no luck, I raised the hood today and could smell gas, so I decided to check the fpr again(after checkin multiple times this week) and this time when I pulled the vacumm line loose gas started gushing out of it. so I put the line back on and checked it agian in 30 minutes and gas was still pouring out. The car hasnt been drove any today so I was surprised that that much gas came out, anyways is there anything else I can do to test the fpr for failure before I spend 70 bucks on a new one? or does this 100% mean that the fpr is the culprit for my problems?
That means its 100% bad. Gas shouldnt come out the top of the fpr. Buy a new one and your problem is fixed. Like i said before its happends to me twice now and a new one fixed the problem.
okay I'll try replacing that tomorrow in class. thanks for the help, really appreciate it.
for future reference for anyone else with similar problems. replacing my fuel pressure regulator fixed all my problems.
i just had an episode with mine this morning. it was damp out from it raining. went out started up cold and drove to the gas station turned it off. went inside and came back out to start it and it wouldnt fire. would crank and crank but no fire. took about 5 minutes and it finally turned over barely. but i have had problems with mine being hard to start. been doing that more lately
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i had teh same issues you guys were having after i pulled my car out of a 2 year storage and slapped in a fresh built motor.
my dumass used the old plugs in a pinch and forgot to replace them, turned out i need new plugs, but yes.
cold start perfect everytime, hot start perfect, warm start, crank it for a while, and then it would bobble a few times for about 20 seconds.
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Okay so my Z24 is starting this hard starting crap again pretty much like it did last time when the FPR started screwing up. Havent seen gas coming from the vacuum hose on it yet. My question is where on a 1999 2.4L is the best place to check for fuel pressure? Just wana make sure that my fuel pumps not the culprit this time.
