TheCooler

Well, I got my new baby and everything was fine untill... DUM DUM DUMMMM. Im sitting at a red light and the thing just stalls. Im like ...ok so i try to start it. Doesnt start. Turns over a couple times. No start. Try it again. No start. I wait 30 seconds. Try and start it and it goes WTF?. It seems to only happen at idle when the clutch is in or when im in N. And the car ALWAYS starts but after about 30-60 seconds of waiting. The idle seems a lil rough sometimes. It has happened to me 3 times. 1 when i was parked 2 when i was on the highway (traffic) 3 when i was at a stop light. Also when i normally start the car sometimes it turns over turns over *kerchunk* turns over and starts. It does it sometimes. It sounds like something hitting something else but i really dont know what. It scares me. I have a 89 S2 also.

porsche9fofo

i had a honda civic that did that for awhile after a small wreck but sometimes it would die while the car was moving i.e. at 65 on the highway it turned out to be a cracked block

TheCooler

Hrm, i better not have that.

Steve in New Hampshire

I just had a similar situation. Could be the fuel pressure regulator. It lets too much pressure into the system and floods the engine. Thus the wait....while the gas drains into your oil!!

Steve

TheCooler

Ah, could be. It seems like the problem to me. The amount of time if takes the restart depends on how many times i try and start it. How exactly can I test this?

Sami951

You can plug a pressure gauge to the fuel rail, the large bolt in the front comes off. I'm not sure what sort of readings a stock S2 should get, probably something like 2.5 bar (~37psi) at idle, and when you turn off the engine, it should hold it for an hour or so... if it drops fast, it's a bad anti-drainback valve (located in front of the fuel pump in 951s, no clue if it's the same in S2 - I'd assume it is..)

t1tec

I had similar cold start problems, not as bad, but similar. Mine would take a while to start, be extremely rough at idle and would have no power on initial take off.

I changed the Fuel Pressure Regulator and now she runs like a dream. I even have greater throttle response and faster acceleration.

Could be your problem.

Luis de Prat

My 1990 S2 recently had these very same symptoms. Are you getting a a slight fuel smell in the cabin after the car sits overnight? In my car it was a fuel tube that was leaking and compromising the fuel pressure.