Hi. my 2002 XK8, first of the 4.2 model, has difficulty in starting when its cold. It turns over fine, but fire up until the second or third attempt. It wasn,t used for a most of this year. Once its warm, their is no problem at all. just when it cools down again. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

 

Alan,

You've already posted a separate Intro so I've moved this post from New Member Area - Intro a MUST to XK8/XKR forum.

Graham

 

Thanks Graham, much appreciated

 

The standard answer is to check the battery. Here in the US, stores that sell batteries typically offer to load-test an old battery for free, in the off chance you need a replacement. The problem with an old battery is that under the load of a starter, the voltage may drop below what is acceptable to run the electronics (maybe 10V). Once past a certain point, no amount of recharging does the trick, and the battery needs to be replaced. The confusing part is that the old battery at that point seems to still be plenty capable of cranking, but in reality drops the voltage too much to be effective.

I am sure there are plenty of other reasons to have difficulties cranking, but this is a start.

Best of luck, keep us posted.

 

Many thanks for that. The battery seems fine but from what you say there still may not be enough power to do the job properly

 

Once it does start does it idle ok?

 

A jagger, no offense but what do you base seems fine on ? You really need to get it checked to be able to affirm status.

Don't feel like it ? Hook up battery charger, how many amps is it feeding ? When shows full, try a start with charger hooked up, did it make a difference like fmertz suspectso?

John

 

Try this! When the car is cold turn the key on count to 10 then start the car and see if that makes a difference.

 

For a few seconds it's really rough then goes to idle absolutely fine and drives perfectly after that

 

Thanks I'll try that. I think sediment might have settled between the tank and fuel lines because I didn't use it for months

 

Thanks I understand what you mean. I'm just waiting to see if it settles down because if not using the car all this year

 

If you suspect a fuel delivery problem, the fuel pressure value is available over standard OBD. A cheap ELM327-based diagnostic tool would show you the value "real time". Mine shows a pretty constant 55 psi, as I believe the sensor takes its value with a reference to the intake manifold already.

 

Thanks very much for that info