Hey, i'm new here. Had a look around and everyone seems very knowledgeable. Unfortuantely, I am not. So just wondering if anyone has any ideas on this issue.

I have some trouble starting the car on its first run. Seems like I have to manually pump the fuel into the engine with the accelerator before it will start. Once it is running, it seems fine and it starts again first time as long as the engine hasn't gone cold whilst it is off. I can hear the fuel pump powering up when the ignition is set to pre-start, so I don't think it is that as suggested in some similar posts.

The garage replaced an ECT sensor on the engine which cleared one code, but the ECU won't reset and it had no other codes on it apparently; so theCEL is still on. Only thing I can think of with the cold is that the choke is broken (if cars still have chokes these days).

Any ideas would be appreciated.

 

The light shouldn't be on without a code stored...

Try this, on a cold start push the throttle all the way to the floor and try to start it, if it fires right up you may have a leaky injector causing it to slowly flood (pedal to the floor tells the car it's a flooded situation). It could be a few other things but that's a quick easy test.

Also, basic tune-up stuff can help if it hasn't been done recently and stick to NGK plugs...

Welcome to the forum!

 

Unfortunately, it still needed a good minute of cranking and pumping the accelerator before it would start. If it is of any help, it used to idle at about 600rpm when warm and it's more like 1000rpm now.

 

pumping the gas pedal won't do anything to the fuel. if you pump it or hold it while cranking it will reduce the fuel entering the engine. higher idle speed all the time leads me to believe either the throttle is slightly open all the time or there is a problem with the idle air control valve.

have the check engine light looked at by a dealer with a dealer scan tool. that's the best way to be certain there isn't another code stored.

 

When the car first starts, there is practically no RPM, so you have to hold the throttle open until the engine warms up. Then it settles at around the 1000rpm mark. If you start it and don't hold the throttle, the engine splutters for a while and then cuts itself out. Could that be caused by this idle air control valve or is that a different issue altogether?