1983 Chrysler Imperial: starting problems

Are the starting troubles only with the EFI cars?

Lawrence R Noska

lnoska@xxxxxxxxxxxx

Hauser, ID 83854

-----Original Message-----
From: mailing-list-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:mailing-list-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Wayne Michaels
Sent: Saturday, June 05, 2004 11:49 AM
To: mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: IML: 1983 Chrysler Imperial: starting problems

Joel, I had an 81 that did this same type of thing. After replacing quite a few things, I found that the control pump was weak. I pulled it apart, cleaned it up, and the car then started great. Cranking the car a long time does no good, because after a short time the computer shuts down the fuel. If it doesn't start within the first few rotations, turn it off and try again. Sometimes turning the key on and off a few times will get the pump to push enough fuel through to start it. Bob

----- Original Message -----

From: Joel Smith

To: mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sent: Friday, June 04, 2004 11:12 PM

Subject: RE: IML: 1983 Chrysler Imperial: starting problems

Hi Guys,

Thanks for all the quick & informative replies, they are much appreciated! I have a few things to clarify though. This car used to belong to "William" who I just realized (after going through the IML history),posted regularly on the mailing list and apparently had quite the adventure getting it running. I thought that was kind of interesting. I basically impulse-bought it late April after seeing it listed online for a good price & drove it home the same day.

After reading some of the IML history, and the informative replies i've received, I definitely have a few things to check out with the engine, i'll keep you posted on how things go.

Thanks again for all the help!

Joel Smith
Edmonton, Alberta.

--- On Fri 06/04, Joel Smith < joelrsmith@xxxxxxxxxx > wrote:

From: Joel Smith [mailto: joelrsmith@xxxxxxxxxx]
To: mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Fri, 4 Jun 2004 13:40:48 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: IML: 1983 Chrysler Imperial: starting problems

Hi Guys,

I have a 1983 Chrysler Imperial that I purchased about a month ago. It's in pretty decent condition, but does have some rust in the rear left & right quarter panel & the bottom of the deck lid. It has 130,000 Miles on it (but there is an asterix beside where it says that, don't know what that means) and gets from 15 - 20 US MPG on a tank.

Right from the beginning, whenever I would start it, it would crank over a bit more than what I would expect a "normal" car to do, although I did hear from a certain mechanic that due to it's older computer, that could be normal. It always drives & idles nice though. Anyways, here's what happened: I drove my car to work friday morning (7:30 am), and it did it's usual "longer than normal" start, all was good. It sat all day at work in about say 20 C (68 F) temperature. I finished work around 5:00 pm and went to start my car. The first try I held the key in the "start" position for about 6 - 8 seconds, it just cranked, didn 't fire once. This was kind of surprising, as it had never done this before. So I tried it again, nothing. After that, i tried pumping the gas pedal (I usually NEVER touch the gas pedal at all before or during starting) while I was cranking it, it actually fired one or two times but didn't start. Next, I pulled off the air cleaner cover, & I could smell gas( but it didn't appear flooded), so I left the cover off for a minute or two, then put it back on and tried again. Nothing.

So after that I went back inside to where I work & called AMA to send over a tow truck. Next ( about 30 mins had passed since I had last tried starting the car) I went outside again to see if I could start the car. I put the key in and cranked it...it didn't fire for a sec or two, but then caught a few times & started. For the first few seconds it ran rough, like it had too much / too little fuel, but after that it smoothed out and idled like it has always had before (it idles nice btw). So now i'm a little scared about something like thi s happening again (i've been driving it for about 4 days since then and it's always started). Now would any of you guys have any idea what the problem could be and what I can do to fix it? I'm also interested in why it seems to need a few excessive cranks to start.

Oh, and you can check out pictures of my car here: http://www3.telus.net/agentsmith

Thanks in advance.

Joel Smith
Edmonton, Alberta.

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