K series fires then dies unless catch on throttle?

[Matt B]

Hi

 

98 K series SS, ran fine until a recent track day and now has the same issue. Starting the car with no throttle it dies immediately - you can catch it with the throttle if you are quick. Staring with my foot on the throttle it starts fine. I always click the ignition on until the fuel pump primes for a few seconds before starting. The only issue i've had recently was during the track day i momentarily lost idle (the starting issue had already occurred when i took it off the trailer) but a wiggle of a loose ish HT lead on the Dizzy soon sorted that out.

 

Any ideas please? Nothing major just something for the winter list

 

Matt

[Irrelevant]

First thing I'd look at would be IACV . . .

[Jason Plato]

aye vac

do a search for easy fix

 

but beware when taking it apart as the bloody springs spring everywhere

[Peter Carmichael]

Any ticking noises when it is idling? Check the compression just for peace of mind.

[djg]

I have this exact issue.

 

In my case it is because I have a Brise starter, and I suspect a slightly useless Banner battery.

 

From what I have been told the ecu's stop working if the volts on them drop below I think 10 volts. So when you start the car the volts drop and then the engine dies as tickover speeds are not enough to recover the volts in the battery.

 

I have checked mine with a Digi Volt meter whilst starting and this is exactly what is going on in my case. Maybe worth a look.

 

The rest of the time the car is absolutly fine.

 

Doug

[jackb_ms]

My car is doing the same as Doug's

 

Jack

 

Emily, The Very Yellow 21

[Nifty]

I had a similar issue to you Matt and I would concur with Doug.

On investigation the alternator was fried and wasn't charging the battery correctly. Battery voltage drops below 9v and ECU starts playing silly bu99ers.

 

Replaced alternator and charged up what I thought would be a knackered battery and have had no problems since.

 

I'm running a Brise alternator and I think the pulley is too small and therefore running at too high an RPM for sustained periods on track. I have a bigger pulley from Brise but it isn't that much bigger.

Ammo did some work on relating pulley size and alternator RPM to find the best compromise for his Duratecs between over revving at high RPM and getting sufficient current at low RPM. Might be worth giving him a call if you do find your alternators done because he can supply quality units.

(I wasn't aware of this when I replaced the Brise).

 

By the way, this isn't to discount the IACV possibility, just adding another option to the list to investigate.

 

Keep off the straight and narrow 😬