304 slow cold start & stalling

[MasterOfReality]

Hi guys,

Have a VP Calais I'm slowly trying to get back on the road. It has been in storage since 2008 (started and driven around the block maybe 5 times since 2008). It has 151,000 km on it.

It has this issue on cold starts where it cranks for a while, fires then is pretty rough/uneven for about a minute. Its like a really lazy start. It eventually settles down and smooths out but if I give it a rev, it doesn't return to idle and just stalls. Restart it, and it fires up straight away like it should, and behaves perfectly. Idles perfect, no stalling, stumbling, hesitation etc.

I have given it a service. Replaced fuel filter and the muck that fell out of it was brown. Rusty tank?

Going back through my service records to see whats been done and when:

• Fuel injectors cleaned 104,000 km.
• Ignition leads (Topgun 8 mm) 104,000 km.
• Oxygen sensor 120,000 km.
• Spark plugs (NGK-BPR6EF) 131,000 km. I pulled these the other day and they looked good.
• Fuel pump 139,000 km.

As far as I know, the rotor button, coil and ignition module are original. But given the car runs fine as described above, I'm not leaning towards an ignition issue.

Does this sound like a fuel pressure issue? The fuel pump is pretty new (well replaced in 2008 but only 12,000 km on it) but could have the rubbish I found in the filter stuffed the pump?

Thanks!

 

[BlackVXGTS]

Possibly injectors leaking down. Do you have a fresh tank of fuel?

 

[MasterOfReality]

Yes, full tank of 98.

 

[someguy360]

Possible some of the finer crud made it through and clogged the injectors.

 

[MikeC]

All fresh 98? Modern fuel goes stale in maybe 6 months then the engine won't start or idle. I've spent a lot of time on other engines trying to fix problems that in the end were caused by stale fuel.
You might have water in the tank from condensation over all those years. If it's only a small amount of water a 1 litre bottle of metho will absorb it and then burn in the engine.

 

[MasterOfReality]

Thanks guy, the fuel is about 3 weeks old.

Is it ok to put metho in if the car sits there?

 

[gtrboyy]

Have you taken it for decent drive yet? Run through a few heat cycles?

 

[MasterOfReality]

Only two short drives, around 30km in total. Can't really do much right now unfortunately!

 

[MikeC]

The metho absorbs any water in the tank then to get rid of it you need to burn the metho/petrol mix. If you can find a low point under the tank that you can tap for fuel, drain some and leave it in a clear glass jar. Any water present will settle to the bottom.

 

[Chrominium]

Hey you'll probably find the stalling issue after start up is caused by the 98 octane fuel, try just running 91 and see how you go.