[86 8v, JH] engine start problems

[Oliver Seiler <oseiler@acm.org>]

Hi -- in tracking down my engine problems (86 8v, JH engine) I'm having
the following behaviour.

I'll start the car cold, and my idle speed will be relatively low (around
700RPM; I don't have an idle speed boost valve) and the engine runs rough.
After a short period of time (on the order of 10 seconds) the RPMs will go
up to normal speed (950 RPM) and all will sound well. If instead of
leaving it idling I rev it up to 3000 RPM a couple of times, the idle
speed goes normal much quicker.

This doesn't happen all the time, but most of the time (I've got in the
habit of starting it and revving it a bit right away to get the idle speed
normal).

No, I haven't checked fuel pressure yet. Know where I can get a cheap CIS
fuel pressure gauge? Someone mentioned getting one for $40 recently;
where?

The fact that it goes away on it's own after cold starting makes me think
it's my cold-start valve. I know the valve is working, but I haven't
checked it's spray pattern yet; could I expect something like this if the
fuel wasn't being atomized properly (like perhaps the fuel is entering the
cylinders more liquid-like)?

I also have an intermittent hot-start problem where the engine will start
but without a lot of effort (holding the key to start and opening the
throttle) the engine will stall. Since my car presumably has a hot-start
pulse relay on the cold-start valve, could this be another indication of a
problem with it?

Just wondering whether my suspicions about the cold-start valve might be
correct and if I should bother dragging a friend over to the car so that
he can turn the key while I check the spray pattern...

Thanks,
Oliver

Oliver Seiler -- Software Developer, Pivotal Software, http://www.pivotal.com
    Scirocco MkII Diary - http://erisian.com/~oseiler/scirocco/index.html


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