New member with Tigra 1999 1.4 Starting Problem

[MartyP Bognor]

Dear All Readers, I have a problem with the Tigra that I would really like some help with.

 

It has started to become difficult to start in that you have to turn it over for 5 seconds or so before it fires and when it does it is very lumpy but only for a few seconds, once revved and running it is fine and runs smoothly from then on.

I have changed the water temp sensor, the one housed in the thermostat housing, it made no difference. The engine management light was on but only after I had dislodged the throttle position sensor plug whilst checking all other electrical connections! I bought an OPCOM fault reader and it was showing no other faults so I used it to clear the fault. Finally, Looking through the information on OPCOM most of which is beyond my knowledge, the only think I could see that looks iffy is that it is showing the fuel mixture RICH, this is backed up by the fact that the car has always had a sooty exhaust pipe. I checked the cylinder yesterday and all cylinders are showing about 150psi.

The car needs an MOT within a couple of weeks and I'm a bit worried that it will fail on emissions due to the rich mixture. Does anyone consider that a new lambda sensor would help? 

 

Anyway, any advice would be very much appreciated.

[MartyP Bognor]

Hi There.

I thought I would take a gamble on buying a lambda sensor. Just in case anyone has a similar problem to me, it made no difference. The opcom fault code reader still shows "RICH". On the plus side, the car has passed its MOT although the tester said that it took a while for the exhaust gases to drop to the pass level. Car still struggles to start now and again. Could it be that the throttle body is just knackered after 100k plus?