Starting 2.1 Pinto

[MOC Chair]

Started the 2.1 Pinto in my Berlinetta. It was very reluctant to turn over just using the battery and required a boost from from a charger. Not surprising really as it has been slumbering since October!

[ggrum]

I keep my Cabrio on the road all through the year but obviously doesn't get much use during the winter months. After about 4 to 5 weeks of not being started the battery voltage had dropped to about 12.4 volts. The engine turned over fine but would not start. After charging the battery it started fine as normal. The engined is the 2 litre DOHC 8V EFi and my theory is that when the battery is a bit low to start with, during cranking the voltage drops down too low for the electronic ignition system to work. The other option may be that the voltage is too low for the fuel pump.

[andyf]

Yes you do need to make sure that the battery is charged if it has been sat for a while in the cold.

[MOC Chair]

The Battery had been disconnected since October and the charger indicated that it was fully charged.
l have a mechanical fuel pump fitted so when the engine has not been running recently it has turn over a few times to fill the fuel filter. This isn't a bad thing since it also gives the oil pump time to get oil up to the top of the engine.
The Battery which fits into the space provided in a Cabrio is not really up to the job of starting a pinto that hasn't run recently. My charger has an 80 amp booster facility which is very useful.

[Dane_Rescueman]

I have the 2.1 Pinto but my version is fuel injected. The space for a battery is small so the battery has to work hard. I keep a battery conditioner connected if the car is not used for a week or so. I have wired up the EFi to have a priming function on a flip flop relay. With the ignition switch in Aux, I can flip a button that starts up the Facet LP priming pump. This guarantees that the swirl pot is full and low pressure fuel is circulating throughout the system. Another flip and the pump stops. Once the ignition is in start position the engine usually fires up withing five revolutions.
Being a pessimist I always travel with one of those small but very powerful emergency power packs. I have not needed it yet on the Berli but used it on friends land rover, Honda, and my lawn tractor. Well worth the money

[Dane_Rescueman]

Someone has just asked why not just switch on the ignition and wait whilst the pumps fill the system. Like most EFi systems the module will switch off the pumps after one second if the engine has not started or rotated. Hence the auxiliary system.

[MOC Chair]

Looking at my previous post, I seem to have forgotten that I now have a Berlinetta rather than a Cabrio! Maybe it is an easy mistake having owned a Cabrio for 16 years. However the space for the battery is the same size but in a different place.