"Cold Start" Problem

[ad93]

When I attempt to start my fiesta "cold" it shakes/shudders for a few seconds before starting. After letting the car idle for a few minutes I can shut it off and it will start up without any of the shaking or shuddering. This is not a cold ambient temperature issue as you can see in the attached video it is 102 outside. If you noticed the CEL in the video it is off now (evap plug was disconnected) yet it still has the start problem. Any ideas as to what is causing this issue are much appreciated.

[video=youtube_share;6lwcSlTWT8A]http://youtu.be/6lwcSlTWT8A[/video]

Thanks

 

[Sekred]

It sounds like its running out of fuel.
The DI system needs to hold fuel pressure in the fuel rail for instant start-up. It maybe leaking down over a period of time like overnight. When you go to start up first thing in the morning it sounds like the engine is cranking for a time before fuel pressure builds high enough before the engine idles normally.

 

[me32]

What year car and how many miles and mods

 

[Hijinx]

Have you checked with your dealer to see if your car is included with the fuel pump recall?

 

[ad93]

My car is a 2014 with 5k miles and no mods.

I didn't know that there was a fuel pump recall but I'm wondering if my car is eligible since it has a salvage title.

 

[ad93]

I'm starting to think the starting issue is due to one of the fuel pumps. I belive there is one at the tank and one in the engine bay. How can I test each pump to see if they are generating the right amount of pressure on start up?

 

[OCDFist]

If you have a Cobb AP3 or a good obd2 code scanner, you can look at fuel rail pressure (frp) when the engine is running. If the high pressure fuel pump on the engine is ok, it should be around 590 psi or higher at idle when warmed up, in my experience. You can also look at low side fuel pressure from the tank pump.

 

[MrClean]

It sounds like its running out of fuel.
The DI system needs to hold fuel pressure in the fuel rail for instant start-up. It maybe leaking down over a period of time like overnight. When you go to start up first thing in the morning it sounds like the engine is cranking for a time before fuel pressure builds high enough before the engine idles normally.

Ditto on the fuel issue.

What year car and how many miles and mods

Also ditto on these questions.



We could be witnessing the beginning of a famed BMW problem known as the HPFP/LPFP failure.

 

[GAbOS]

Ditto on the fuel issue.

Also ditto on these questions.

We could be witnessing the beginning of a famed BMW problem known as the HPFP/LPFP failure.

Or the infamous blinker fluid dilatation due to the freak sun flare the other day.

ad93:

Salvaged: Why?
Has the car been ecu tuned and put it back to stock?
Paid for a real diagnostic yet?

 

[ad93]

Problem may have been solved and all it took was a day of daily driving. I had not driven the car for a month other than starting it to back it out of my single lame driveway to take another car out and I guess this did something to the fuel pump. I drove the car yesterday and when I went to start the car today at 7am it cranked like normal so I drove it to work (15 mile commute). When I started it at 9pm to go home it cranked over like normal once again. I'll be driving it for the rest of this week and if it continues the good behavior then it seems the problem was me not driving the car enough.

Thanks for all the responses

 

[GAbOS]

So it sat!

It takes a good deal of energy to start a motor "smoothly" by our standards these days.

 

[me32]

So basically it wasnt a cold start issue it was a car sitting for a long time. That would make the fuel pressure drop and the battery may have not been at a full charge
That would all make sense.

 

[ad93]

The battery was always maintained but this is my first car with DI so I guess if all you do is move the car up and down a driveway for a month the car won't start smoothly. I've done the same procedure (driveway shuffling) with other non DI cars in the past and so long as the battery was maintained they would never exhibit the starting behavior of the ST. But all is well so if anyone out there experiences something similar to my car's issue the solution is just drive the darn thing!