I've had this car a few months and have been very happy with it. Lately though, it sometimes has a great deal of starting up. The starter motor seems to turn just fine, but the engine doesn't start. After keeping the ignition engaged for 10-30 seconds, the engine starts up and runs fine. This can happen right after I've been driving or after a day at the office. Doesn't seem to be temperature dependent. On the other hand, it usually starts up just fine.

I had the battery checked out at the mechanic and they said it was fine. I've also visually inspected the spark plugs and they don't seem to be fouled, but I have an inexpert eye. I tried disconnecting the spark plug wires while the engine ran one at a time to see if it made a difference in how the engine ran, and one of the sparkplugs didn't seem to affect the engine's running. At this point I'm not really sure where I should go in trying to troubleshoot the problem. Any help?

I want to thank everyone for the responses. I'm just getting started on car repairs and these sorts of pointers are really helpful. I have cleaned the 25A fuse and took a look at the fuel pump relay. I didn't see any sort of burns or defects on the relay. I'm going to see about purchasing a soldering iron in the near future just to make sure that the fuel pump relay is not what's failing. In the mean time, the car has been starting up fine, so I'm going to hold off on more troubleshooting till the problem returns. Thanks all.

"After keeping the ignition engaged for 10-30 seconds, the engine starts up and runs fine."

Maybe the FPR is losing pressure when the engine is off? So the pumps have to rebuild the pressure during cranking.

"one of the sparkplugs didn't seem to affect the engine's running."

It may not be firing or fuel is not being fed to that cylinder. You may be running on 3 cylinders.
--
1980 245 Canadian B21A with SU carb, M46 trans, 3:31 dif, in Brampton, Ont.

First suspect and a place to look is the system relay. It turns on the ignition and fuel pumps after the ECU sees the engine crank.
It is a white relay up behind the glove box.

The solder traces inside go bad or the connector terminals become corroded and sometimes it can be a grounding wire from it to the body that goes bad. You can reflow the traces as that is the fix in most cases.
Take a look at the windings for any discoloration and any odd burnt smell about the relay upon first opening it too! The coil may be losing some windings and will cause it to lose it magnetism to pull down the contact fingers.
Inside there are two separate contacts that have to close and sometimes they may not.

We all know time takes a toll on the weakest link.

The next link, is the fuse panel and fuses 4 and 6. Clean them good and use something to keep them from corroding.

You can pop open the cover as it slides upward after spreading the sides slightly. Observe the action inside when you turn the key and crank. If you hold one side down you will hear the pumps run. The other side is ignition you won't hear anything. If either are lazy in closing then that maybe the delay you are having.

It is worth a shot anyways!

Phil

Good shot Phil.

If one of my kids came to me with this story, I would do as you suggest.

1) Clean up the under-hood 25A blade fuse, holder, and wiring.

2) Replace the fuel injection relay.

3) Check the operation of the in-tank pump.

4) Renew the plugs, ignition wires, distributor cap, and rotor (tune up).

There are more things that might help, but this is a baseline start.

BTW, some trivia: Fuse 6 is not needed in this car. You can use it as a spare. And I believe the FI relay has nothing to do with ignition.
--
Art Benstein near Baltimore

Some cause happiness wherever they go. Others whenever they go.

Wa Hai.....doing, Art! I saw "Wa Hai" on a sign recently and thought I would play with it.


Interesting thing that you speak of the system relay only running the pumps. I was fairly sure that it has two contact fingers inside to make in a double pole relay. I may have assumed that it powered the ICU after the ECU turns the relay on. I got the idea from my 1984 as it uses two separate relays to do the jobs.

Now that I am wrong on that with the nineties cars, I must stand to get updated on the fuse panel too! So the relay carries the injectors power? Isn't that low power enough for the ECU alone?

Guess, I have been lucky to keep my stuff running but I do not have as many people driving my cars all over the place. Just my wife and I and four cars. I read your list of breakdowns in a recent post about batteries or pumps. You are the man in the know. You even know where the rust is on these cars and I am brown all over, especially, if I hang out in the sun too much! (:)

I thought fuses 4 & 6 powered on the pumps and bypassed the relay but doesn't that relay gets its main power off that circuit four or six? They would not need to power the in-tank pump separately as it is so small. I have never bothered to trace out my different cars wiring, by a diagram or by hand.

We know engineers can do what ever they want too. They could be using both contacts at the same time to divide the current across them. Most of the time it's about money or space to hide it so write that off!

I have change out single pole relays with a double contact relay to save burning a single pole relay contacts prematurely. I use the same current ratings but I get two of them in the same package. Saved me trips to a roof every three or four years to almost never again having the same failure of that "contactor" or big relay!

I got rain today, how is your white stuff?

Imagine, if water had a color.... That would be worse than rose colored glasses and you would not have to feel it, to know it was wet!

Maybe you should add that to your bottom whatever you call it, quips!

Phil