I have been running Enderle mechanical injection for years and lately it is getting really hard to start. It will spin and spin and then finally start. Once it starts it idles good, takes gas and runs good. The O2 numbers and fuel pressure are good but just does not want to start. When engine is warmer it seems to be harder to start.

I am not sure if it is too fat or too lean or what but I am pretty sure it is fuel related and not ignition.
I believe the pump is good, data logger shows good pressure and I have not been having to go up on pills. No indication of any pump problems.

The idle check valve looks good and appears to be working properly. The secondary valve is good. The barrel valve controls idle mixture and I have messed with it some but that does not seem to help situation.

Do have a primer system but lately it seems to make it worse.

Any suggestions or ideas?

quote:

Originally posted by Curly1:
I have been running Enderle mechanical injection for years and lately it is getting really hard to start. It will spin and spin and then finally start. Once it starts it idles good, takes gas and runs good. The O2 numbers and fuel pressure are good but just does not want to start. When engine is warmer it seems to be harder to start.

I am not sure if it is too fat or too lean or what but I am pretty sure it is fuel related and not ignition.
I believe the pump is good, data logger shows good pressure and I have not been having to go up on pills. No indication of any pump problems.

The idle check valve looks good and appears to be working properly. The secondary valve is good. The barrel valve controls idle mixture and I have messed with it some but that does not seem to help situation.

Do have a primer system but lately it seems to make it worse.

Any suggestions or ideas?

I would air check you idle check first, see where it cracks open just to verify. If it is leaking the fuel in the BV and hat lines may drain back to the tank return line making it harder to start.. 6-10 psi is pretty standard for an idle check to crack , I run mine at 12 just to make it a touch fatter without messing with the BV.
When is the last time you put new seals in your BV?

Have you had your pump flow checked in forever? Just a thought.

Curtis

Thanks guys, I THINK I may have figured it out. On the new dragster I had a starter saver that retards timing 10* when starting.

I disconnected it and wired it up with out it and it seems to be better. Will not know for sure until I can get it out of the trailer and get it warmed up good.

I got to thinking when I was typing the post and going over what had changed and so I went over ignition possibilities again.

if hard to start on two different fuel systems ,have to look elsewhere. maybe you found it

Since car was running good and consistent I was reluctant to change much until I got to Semi-Final and car would not start.........

How is your primer set up? I have the type of Facet that is supposed to be internally checked. It isn’t. Verified with leak gauge that it allows a couple percent back to the tank. So I put a check infront if it but then found that crudded up and sticking open the other day.

Curly, when I was running injection my dragster was hard to start because it was lean. But when it finally hit being lean the rpm's would zing up to 4 or 5 grand then settle down to the desired idle rpm. I built a gas primer system so it had fuel at the first hit. It sounds like your issue is just the opposit. I also use the primer system to idle around the pits and on the return road.

quote:

Originally posted by Curly1:
Thanks guys, I THINK I may have figured it out. On the new dragster I had a starter saver that retards timing 10* when starting.

I disconnected it and wired it up with out it and it seems to be better. Will not know for sure until I can get it out of the trailer and get it warmed up good.

I got to thinking when I was typing the post and going over what had changed and so I went over ignition possibilities again.

My engine hated the starter saver. Kicked back like crazy. Chased my tail thinking maybe i needed to pull more, was exact opposite. Only other issue I ever had starting it was trying to fire it to lean.

My primer system is a home made system I made. I have a small Mallory 110 pump and it has a one way check valve. Under the hat I have 4 -.020 nozzles to feed it. I tried many things on the primer, gas, E-85 and also tried the Facet pump nothing worked very good. What seems to work best is on alcohol. By the way I have a needle valve to restrict the primer fuel to desired level. Now it was working but it is rather touchy and hard to get just right. The thing is I put motor and transmission in my new dragster around April last year and started running it. The dragster I put a starter saver on it. Now it spins over no problem but it was acting like it was too fat or too lean and really hard to start. Once it starts it is great.

I got to thinking that maybe it could be something other than fuel so I unhooked the starter saver and it fired right up? Hmmmm. Okay. I have started it several times in the trailer and it fires right off. The real test will be this weekend when I race and I will report back on it.

Back in the day I had a start problem that had similarities to yours. In the end it was a leak in the fuel filter that was causing a drain back issue. It took a while to find because the filter was the high point of the system and didn’t drip fuel.