Good day Gearheads!
The 05 1.8 Smells and acts like it is flooded and wont start for a few seconds but it eventually starts up after a few long cranks and runs amazing. It feels like only one or two or three cylinders are firing and then it starts burning really well and the car runs perfectly. It behaves the same way even after driving a long distance and trying to start it again . I checked out the old Sparks and they were not the iridium plugs that are supposed to be in there but yet the car was working great since last summer so I just put the same kind of new plugs in it. Also for the past little while I was having the classic fuel filling problem where it would take 20 minutes to fill up the tank because the nozzle would shut off immediately unless I was barely pumping any fuel at all. The fuel filling problem is now fixed thanks (I think) to the fact that this week I put a new canister vent valve in it after I put the plugs in so I thought all the problems would be solved LOL wishful thinking. There is no check engine light on since I put the new Canister vent valve in it but it still has problems starting due to what smells and feels like flooding. The iridium plugs Maybe helpful obviously LOL but that doesn’t explain why the car ran great for a year without iridium plugs . Any ideas plz n thx! ?
Were the old plugs oil soaked?
Do you see anything obvious, such as visibly leaking fuel injectors?
Have you already done the basics, such as cleaning the throttle body and idle air control valve?
Check and see if the fuel pressure regulator is leaking.
https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=1321172&cc=1430921&jsn=378
Pull the vacuum hose off the regulator, and if gas leaks out of the hose the regulator is leaking.
Don’t bother cleaning idle air control valve as there isn’t one.
Your vehicle has an electronic throttle body.
Tester
Hi DB thx for the post.
Yes the old plugs were soaked, yet they worked well for about a year and they were the ones in the car when I bought it. The new ones seemed to provide a little bit more noticeable performance.
Yes I cleaned the throttle body when I got it last year due to problems I was having with opening idle speed. It seemed clean enough but cleaned it anyway. I will check it again today thx
Hey Tester thx for the post
I’ll check the fuel pressure regulator today and take off the hose and get back to you. Thanks for the tip!