Reluctant to start but runs perfect

Hi chaps, had a look thru pages of posts but couldnt find anything specific, any thoughts or point in the direction of a previous  post appreciated. The basic problem is staring the car. It takes at least 4 attempts, starter motor going for 4-5 secs each time, foot on gas pedal.. Eventually it catches and from then on no problem. Car drives perfect, doesnt die on idle, runs sweet etc. I always turn the key a few times to prime but dont hear a buzzing fuel pump noise from behind rear wheel like on my MK2. I did just fit new fuel lines but have double checked them all for tightness etc, new fuel filter up front. Basically trying to whittle down the options of what could be wrong….i'm guessing dodgy fuel pump, weird thing is it runs perfect once its fired up. OK, any help much appreciated…

Thanks a lot

PS the car is a 1600 GTI X reg.

try the fuel pump relay if it aint priming, it is this that controls when the pump is running. think they're about £15-20 from gsf

Ross

ok great, so should it 'whir' or buzz like it does on a mk2 when it primes? I dont hear anything when i turn the ignition. Thanks mate. Also forgot to say that the car has had a S1 dash installed, not sure if that would have any bearing on the matter? Probably not….

yup - when you turn the key to just before the starter position the pump should give one or two short bursts to prime the system to the right pressure.  If you have a s1 dash I'd assume you have a early style fuse box? - make sure you get the right relay - the early and later ones are different.  GSF did both though last time I checked.

once the cae has started and been run , will it start up ok straight after ?   …..out of interest,  when it does start is there a big puff of white smoke ?   …….only sometimes if an injecter is leaking it will give same symptoms………..to check . let the car stand overnight , then one by one remove each spark plug and use something like a short length of hose, or tube to take a sniff at each cylinder , basicly if you can smell fresh petrol then an injecter is leaking, causing the cylinder to flood when left a length of time , it will take a few seconds to clear before the car will fire and run fine ………

mine has a similar prob, but wen she went for mot it looks like she really lean, my pump doesnt prime either but does start buzzing when i turn the key

chris

fuel pump doesnt always prime on k-jet cars, as long as the pump kicks in when car is cranking on starter motor thats all you need. your problem sound liek 5th injector isnt working, or you have leaky injectors.

try pull the plug off the 5th injector, if that helps then that suggests you have leaky injectors