cold starts

I have a 90 Eagle Talon TSI 2.0 Turbo that has the worst cold starts you could even imagine.


this car is fully tuned for rally cross. It has a FIA spec. roll cage on the inside, skid plates on the bottom.

The ac system has been stripped and an aftermarket BOV, Boost regulator, 3 " catback exhaust going straight back directley from the exhaust mani, whew, i don't even know where to stop.

basically, its been heavily modified for rally cross. It hates to start in cold weather. I have to spray ether into the air filter to get it started. The car idles at about 1000-1100 RPM's which i think is a little high but my racing partner doesn't seem to think so.

I was going to do a complete systems check with an ohmeter checking all of the system relays and sensors but is there anywhere specific i should be searching first? are these cars known for their cold starts?

dets;
Can't speak for other Talon owners, but I've never had an issue with cold engine starting or performance, except when my fuel injetors needed to be replaced. Even then, the engine would start right up and run fine, but it would hesitate and sometimes even stutter on moderate acceleration when cold. It was 10 degrees below zero here this morning in Chicago, and my car has 209,000 miles on it, and it started right up.

Sounds like you know your cars by what you've done to yours. I would suggest checking the engine coolant temperature sensor for proper resistance as a starter. It should read between 2,200-2,700 ohms resistance at 50-80 degrees F, and 280-350 ohms resistance at 180-200 degrees F. The ECM adjusts air fuel ratio and idle speed based on feedback from this sensor.

You also have an air temperature sensor, barometric pressure sensor, and airflow sensor in your air filter assembly. Typically though if any of these three sensors is faulty you will experience performance issues at all engine temperatures, not just cold.

The only other thing I can think of off hand that should be checked is the fuel pressure. It should be between 26-28 PSI on a turbo with manual trans..with the vacuum hose attached on the regulator. It should be 36-38 PSI with the vacuum hose detached from the regulator. If you have an automatic it is 32-34 PSI with vaccum hose attached, 41-46 PSI with the hose detached.

Mark

i have a 92 talon 2.0 non turbo. ive been fighting that problem for about 3 weeks now. it takes forever for mine to start in the mornings with it below 10 degrees. i have replaced the fuel pump the regulator checked the coolant temp sensor tune up wires plugs fuel filter etc. the only thing i can think of is the injectors from here. mine has 140000 on it and there are others who have had the same problem. and noone who has actually had this problem said what has fixed the problem. with mine doing the pump and the regulator has helped tremendously but not totally. so i would say check the total fuel injection system. you can check the fuel pressure at the fuel filter, but that only give you the pump unless you can make an adapter that will keep the fuel rail going at the same time. otherwise you will only check the fuel pump and see if the check valve is leaking. mine was leaking and then the regulator had a pinhole leak also. so now all i can so it replace the injectors and see if that does anything. good luck

based on what i'm reading, it seems its more a injector problem than anything else.

I'm going to head over to my shop soon an get back to work. I'll check the injector packs an the mas. thanks alot for you input.

One last question though. what idle speed would you guys recommend. I feel idiling lower would let the car hit its power band a bit lower also. One of the problems i have with this car is keeping it cool during a race, so i'd like to hear some info from you guys.

thanks alot.

I would do the injectors but i would also check the pump and regulator too. How big of cams do you have in there? if you have some larger cams i would say the 8 or 900 would be sufficient. im assuming that u have bigger than stock in there. i would just idle it down till it started to almost stall then just idle it up like 200 rpm's from there.
ok now a ? for you. how can u tell if the injectors are leaking? i know you can do a resistance test but what is that gonna tell you? i know if its not in spec. it means they may be clogged but its not gonna tell you if its leaking right?

no, they won't tell you if they are leaking. i'm not sure what type of diagnostic test you would have to run to check that.

I just got back from a rally in wells, ny. they were running on a frozen lake with studded tires. cool as hell. i spoke with 2 other talon owners and they both said that the thermostat that is connected to the ECU may be faulty. That most likely it doesn't know that the engine is cold and thats why the air/fuel mixture isn't right. i'll check it and post the results.