Roberta phones me today at lunch, saying her car won't start. I figure it's lawnmower syndrome, and since I happen to be nearby I pop over to see what's up. Definitely not lawnmower syndrome, as the engine is cranking normally (ree-ree-ree-ree-ree-ree, rather than ree-ree-ruh-ree-ruh-ree-ree-ree-ruh). Check the spark and it's good. Pull the fuel return line and crank the engine - nothing. Check the relay, check the power, nothing wrong there. Pull apart the wagon cargo area, pull the access hatch for the fuel pump, give it a whomp, and GROWWLGRUUHGAAAAAAARRRp. Shell out $350 for a new fuel pump and filter, change both, crank engine, car starts and purrs, with the pump making a nice quiet whizzzz.

What's the lucky part?

It happened in my nice warm garage, on a 25 below day.

Better to be lucky than good.

Dang...Worldpac has one in Calgary...A Bosch for $180...

And....the Hella one with the p/u sock for $121...but it is in Vancouver...

I have my garage half insulated, doesnt really keep out the cold though!

I might match you on luck:

Bought a used wagon (not volvo) for the wife and kid, drive it for about two hours off the lot and the tranny blows. Take it back and they rebuild the tranny and replace the slightly leaking rear main seal! (appox cost is about $4k!!!)

btw, what are you using for heat in the garage?

what kind of wagon then? at least they were good enough to honor their warranty.

ive got a gas heater in mine, it only keeps it a few degrees above, due to a lack of weatherstripping on the doors... o well, at least its warm.

go get a dish heater from costco, those work really well.

I've got a 150,000 BTU/h heater spinning the dials off my gas meter. It'll keep it at whatever temperature I set it, no matter the weather, and I still have sheet steel doors with no weatherstrip.

Oh well, like I said I had to deal with the order in the car, on the cell phone. I didn't have access to my Worldpac account, nor was I able to wait. Plus $45 of that was the filter and GST. Unsure if the Bosch is any better than the Walbro that comes in the Hella pack or not.

And WTF is it with you and rubbing lower prices in my face after I've bought whatever it is I buy? I'm sneezing in your eggs this morning.

Matt I envy your garage.

While you're sneezing on Dale's eggs...I thought I'd take a picture to make you smile . Here's my "Winter" car with a faulty control pressure regulator. Won't start if it's under -5 C and I'm probably going to have to change the damn thing out in the street as the temps are not coming up very soon.



Back to my dreams of 150,000 BTU's.

Good luck was on your side Matt (garage heat that is)
And Craig be thankful there has not been any wind, the dirfts down in LA seem small

Are you sure it's the control pressure regulator, Craig? It should start on the cold start injector, even if it doesn't run very well afterwards. If your cold start injector isn't working, it's probably one of two things: the thermal time switch is busted or unplugged, or the power wire has come off the starter solenoid.

In other words: what's it doing to make you say CPR?

I would recommend bypassing the thermal time switch, we've done it to a lot of veh at work. We just too the cold start up to the other terminal on the starter, so whenever the starter is turning the cold start injector is going too

Well...off topic we go. The car will start and run for a second, ergo the cold start injector and the corresponding parts (termal time switch) are functioning. The car then proceeds to either quit running or when it does finally run, runs like crap (to a carb guy it seems like I'm not getting enough choke - in other words it is lean.). From what I've read, this is the function of the control pressure regulator. As the temps go down, the CPR provides more fuel while the engine warms up and then leans out again. And when the car is warm, it starts and runs fine. This could also be the source of the little surge that I get at 2k rpm.

From what I've read, (Kjet.org and Brickboard) this seems like the most likely faulty part. If this doesn't solve the problem, then we are back to the thermal time switch/cold start injector. I've got a spare cold start injector and that spare idle control thingy that you gave me. Greg donated a thermal time switch and the wax thermostat (correct for B23) from his IKEA parts bins.

We'll get her to go - but the parts aren't in, and I'm off to Ottawa until Jan 5. So it won't get fixed for another couple of weeks.

Ian, we've had some wicked winds here lately...just not that much snow (compared to you guys). There was an inch of ice on my office windows last Monday as I face Northwest and the sort of forgot to turn on the heat in the new building

Sounds like you've about nailed it, Craig. CPR it is.