Hi Paul, it's your old friend and friendly ex-B.D. steamfitter and former fellow green turbowagon driver... Just picked up a new brick myself and thus have been hanging about in here again (albeit from Japan).

Glad to hear Jenny II is doing better and better, and that you are still driving her. I was always jealous of those nice wheels of yours...

Sounds like you have got most of your major issues worked out, a brick only gets better with age given good care.

When was the last time you gave Jenny II a good tune-up? Hard starting can be caused by many things, but let's begin with the basics. If your spark plugs, distributor cap, rotor and plug wires are starting to show their age they will do it through hard starting, and perhaps a bit of rough running at times. Especially with all the oil you were blowing, if you haven't taken off the distributor cap and had a look inside then now is the time. Autozone there in B.D. has a replacement but I would order one, and a rotor, from FCP Groton, they will ship the original Bosch goods complete with dust shield. Ditto on the wires, the replacements I bought at AZ tried their best to fall apart post-haste, and just have them throw in a set of plugs too, then you will have it all. Even if the wires look good five years or so is plenty of duty and they are ready to be retired. Air filter?

Once that is all replaced, or verified to be in good working order, it is time to move ahead. We can start at the fuel pump relay, since you have explored this area already. As you may have read here, this relay in and of itself can be the source of many problems. Despite the fact that is is clicking it may be suffering from cracked solder joints on the relay board. You should pull this relay out and have a closer look at it. Any defective solder joints can be repaired, and if you don't have an extra one of these in your glovebox then add that to the FCP Groton order too, because someday it will leave you stuck. Check your fuses too while you're messing around in there, they will benefit from a cleanup and verification of solid contact at both ends.

Pull the vacuum hose from the front side of the fuel pressure regulator, and see if any gas comes out. No? Then we're going to call it good for now. That idle air valve that fixit2003 mentions is on the same side of the engine, down low with about a 1" hose in and out, and an electrical connector. If you have never gotten that far you should tackle it now, it is probably filled with crud. As the man says, remove (couple screws, easy) and flush thoroughly with throttle-body cleaner. That valve is the 'fine tuning' for your engine air at idle, until the throttle plate is opened by pushing the accelerator, although usually when it is clogged you will notice erratic idle at other times too. If yours is borderline then it might just be sticking when the oil is cold, thick and sticky.

The next stop as we head down the fuel delivery system is the main pump and filter, under the car under the driver's seat. Have you changed the fuel filter in the past few years? If not then one more item on your FCP shopping list, they don't last forever. Bad news is it is a bit of a bear to change, especially if it has been a few years, but a dirty filter could be compromised enough to cause problems with the backflow valve on the pump, allowing fuel pressure to drop when shut down, thus necessitating extra cranking 'hard start' to restore fuel pressure. And of course the obvious-fuel may not be passing through the filter easily due to blockage.

Now follow the lines back to the tank, checking for any oddness that could obstruct fuel flow. Only now do you arrive at the in-tank pump, and only if everything else checks out O.K. that far would I suspect the rear pump, from what you have divulged.

Check it out anyhow, I have touched on several of the basics but I am sure there is more that can be added. Read the FAQ section on 'hard starting' well; more details and possibilities are covered in great detail there.

And do your brick a favor and add a case of Mann filters to that FCP Groton order, too, in bulk they're only $3.75 or so each and vastly superior to the Frams. Jenny II will thank you.

Sure do miss the old town sometimes, was thinking just earlier today how nice a few fried fishies and a couple tall old-fashioneds would be down at Voelker's... Good to know there's still one green 745 in B.D., anyhow...

Take care, and let us know how it goes.


--
Scott 'Bricking on Japan time' Night shift is ON
--------1993 945 GLT 74,000--------1973 Suzuki Jimny 'Brute' 61,000--------