Sadly my Felicia has developed another issue.
If 35<ECT<45 and IAT<20C

The vehicle doesn't really like to start, weak firing and very high possibility of flooding,

If for example you slip of the starter engaged position 300msec earlier it will fail to start and will get flooded.

A couple of days now since my off periods were around 2-3 hours long I have been starting the car often in that ECT range, and all the times it took longer to start.

Today, though, I stopped cranking just that little earlier and it flooded.

I had to disconnect the crank sensor and crank it for 10sec or so to clean out and then it started (ofc being weak)

Hope this video sheds some inside, blurred out deliberately 

As you can see my first start attempt is as usual 5 cranks and then I released, but it wasn't enough, then flooding and finally at 14:55 I deflooded it and started successfully 

Edited 9 January, 20251 yr by Thefeliciahacker

Mine is the same at the same temperature ranges, it can be real irritating, I've tried different things, and took lots of measurements to solve it, but to no avail.

Over the years there has been a lot of similar threads with people having the exact same issue, and non have had a solution. It seems only to affect MPI engines, I don't know if it's a flaw in the ECU fueling / ignition timing parameters in those temperature ranges, or if there is common fault (possibly coolant temp sensor or throttle clean needed).

But by now I have a feeling when this is happening, so on the first attempted start I can just keep cranking engine with throttle fully open until engine catches and revs up to around 3k rpm.

My 1.3 Felly has never failed to start in any weather all I do is keep it std spec and service it even in this cold snap we have at the moment. Just follow the manufacture instructions and you cant go wrong after all they made it.

 

A good battery is a must have.

You can't beat the ECU (especially if it includes those computer programming engineers' ****-ups) but if you are cable rather than electric wire then as R_U_AFA has put the old adage was throttle pedal fully depressed.  And as mikefelicia has put a good battery (and connections) in a good state of charge and health also helps, the most basic simple things are often overlooked especially by those that think at a higher level.

 

Battery, starter solenoid-motor are checked?

What brand of coolant sensor you have? The yellow one?

Have you run a diagnostic test for possible errors?

15 hours ago, D.FYLAKTOS said:

Battery, starter solenoid-motor are checked?

I think you can hear how good it cranks.
 

 

15 hours ago, D.FYLAKTOS said:

What brand of coolant sensor you have? The yellow one?

Original what was on the vehicle since day one, ofc yellow because the ac was an importer option (Viamar SA), so the car shipped with PS and yellow band

15 hours ago, D.FYLAKTOS said:

Have you run a diagnostic test for possible errors?

Other than the crank sensor that I induced its clean

I trust the car is a 1.3 MPI engine, when starting do not touch the accelerator pedal if car do's not start after say a few turns of the starter motor then do not keep turning the engine over you will only flood it.

 

Have you had the car running ok in the past and when did this starting problem begin have you changed anything, Like electrical.

 

The engine sounds ok when it started in the video so we can say its not mechanical so must be fuel or electrical have you taken out a spark plug to see if it sparks ok.

 

Is the fuel ok not old or in any way contaminated say water ect. 

 

my bet would be electrical but im no expert at all.

Fuel pump is on its last leg, we will see soon when I replace it

 

14 hours ago, Thefeliciahacker said:

Fuel pump is on its last leg

 

 

How you measure this?

Fuel filter is OK?

2 hours ago, D.FYLAKTOS said:

How you measure this?

Fuel filter is OK?

static pressure okey fuel flow not meeting requirements on full tank

static pressure not okey nor fuel flow meeting requirements on half tank or lower

Fuel pressure measured via FP gauge ?

Maybe the regulator does not work properly.

 

 

When a (petrol) car won't start first two basic fundamental things that come to mind are is the engine getting fuel and spark, so fuel supply and electric, if someone else's car you'd check there's petrol in the tank (ignore petrol gauge) and the condition of the battery and its connections, and go from there with fuel and electric as required.  An electric fuel pump covers both fuel and electric so a good part to test.  Well done.

  

On 12/01/2025 at 15:25, D.FYLAKTOS said:

Maybe the regulator does not work properly.

regulator works, responds to vaccum