Originally Posted by sonoronos
Yes, it can be intermittently broken. Testing is the surest way. Anyways, your videos showed cranking taking 3.5-4 seconds, not 7-10 as you say. It's not that I don't believe you, but I counted the time on the video.
I agree - as stated, the current video is not the best (or worst, depending which you prefer). However, it is obviously having trouble firing and shouldn't take 4 seconds to do so. There have been a dozen or more times when the car will crank all the way through it's cycle (which I believe is 8-10secs) - at this point, the car realizes it is not going to start and then shuts off the starter. Try it again, and it fires right up - everytime this has happened, no problems starting on the 2nd try. I haven't been able to catch this on video yet, but I'll keep trying.
I always hear the CPS issues cause a car that wont start at all, and wont stay running. They also say the car stalls. This has never happened, however it could be on the horizon I suppose.
Originally Posted by sonoronos
Fuel problems - ok, fuel problems are something else. When you start the car and put the key in the ignition, the fuel pump starts up. You should immediately have fuel for the engine when you crank. Fuel pumps rarely break intermitterntly. Same with Fuel Filters. With an SRT6, with its high gasoline needs, your car would be dying all the time if either of those units were at fault. When you turn the key to position 1, you should hear a "whirring" noise. That is a combination of a few things making noise but one is your fuel pump. It is shooting fuel through your fuel system and that is on an open loop through the injector fuel rails back to the fuel tank. You should be getting fuel.
The fuel pump definitely initiates when the key is in the 'on' position - no problem there. However, there is a check valve that holds pressure in the lines when the car is turned off. This supposedly prevents the fuel from returning to the tank when you shut the car off, and allows quick fuel when you hop in to start the car. This is prone to leaking on the SLK32's from what I've read, which causes hard starts.
Here is a section I found in the SRT-6 Service Manual, Page 14-4:
"DIAGNOSIS AND TESTING - FUEL PRESSURE LEAK DOWN TEST
Use this test in conjunction with the Fuel Pump Pressure Test and the Fuel Pump Capacity Test.
CHECK VALVE OPERATION
The electric fuel pump outlet contains a one-way check valve to prevent fuel flow back into the tank, and to maintain fuel supply line pressure (engine warm) when the pump is not operational. It also is used to keep the fuel supply line full of gasoline when the pump is not operational. After 30 minutes the fuel pressure may drop to 2.5 bar (36psi), but the liquid gasoline will remain in the fuel supply line between the check valve and fuel injectors. When the fuel pump is activated, the fuel pressure should immediately (1-2 seconds) rise to specification.
Abnormally long periods of cranking to restart a hot engine that has been shut down for a short period of time may be caused by either fuel pressure bleeding past a fuel injector(s), or fuel pressure bleeding past the check valve in the fuel pump. "
It continues on with how to fix it....
Originally Posted by sonoronos
OK, assuming that your ECU isn't broken then either your car isn't getting spark or it's not getting air. You don't have VALVETRONIC or anything on this car it is a good old fashioned throttle body, so you're getting air. Which means that your engine isn't sparking. If your engine isn't sparking, then we have to think about your coil packs, wires or plugs. Since this car is coil on plug, probably not wires and probably not coils. So the other thing that the engine uses to start spark is to read the timing on the car by use of the Crankshaft Position Sensor..
Seems to make sense...
Originally Posted by sonoronos
CEL - OK, you didn't mention this before and this is good. This means that your engine threw a code and now you must get the code read. Go to autozone, pep boys or checkers and ask for a code-reading tool. They will give you one for free to use. BTW, a good OBD2 scanner should be able to show you fuel rail pressure so take note if you can!!! My bet is on ECU Code "O2 Sensor reading low/high" something to that effect.
Upon getting home after my wife told me about the CEL, I undid the battery - did this dump the codes or just clear the light? If it dumped the codes, then I am SOL.
Thanks for the info.
SQ