QuestionQUESTION: I changed the water pump on my 2001 Concorde. The timing chain is set to all the correct marks and the engine runs fine. However the car does not start every time. Alot of the time if I removed the gas cap it will start but this does not work every time. How do I purge the air out of the fuel system? I could not find a valve to do this? I am also having trouble getting the primary belt adjusted properly. I'll get it to stop whining and then it will start all over again. Tehe power steering pump was only removed from it's housing. The lines were never disconnected
ANSWER: Hi Dave,
The fuel system is supposed to be airtight to prevent fumes from venting to the atmoshphere. Why not try to see if you have any fault codes stored in the engine computer that might explain the hard starting? Turn the ignition key:"on-off-on-off-on and leave on" doing that in 5 seconds or less elapsed time. Then watch the odometer window to see of the mileage changes to show any 4-digit numbers beginning with a P. Let me know and we can go from the there to solve the hard starting problem.
On the belt, might it be worn or possibly glazed due to slipping in which case replacement may be necessary. The other thing is do is with a straight edge/line of sight observation verify that all the pulleys are in the same plane of rotation compare to oneanother. If not, then which ever component needs to be adjusted can be addressed. Perhaps the power steering pump is not aligned to the same plane or it tilted relative to the plane of rotation of the other modules.
Roland
PS If you write back tell me which engine you have.
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QUESTION: I have the 2.7 liter engine. I've been told that there is a valve on the fuel rail but I was unable to locate it and the Chiltons manual doesnt cover this. The instructions it gives are to relieve gas cap pressure, remove fuel pump relay then start engine and run till it dies, then crank engine again for several seconds. I did this as a favor for a friend and needless to say no good deed goes unpunished because this is a major issue now
AnswerHi Dave,
That procedure you describe is for relieving the fuel pressure in the system prior to servicing it, not for removing air from the fuel lines. There is no valve but rather,after doing what you described, then you momentarily energize any injector as the next step (using jumper to the battery, but for no longer than a second or so) and finally you open the disconnect of the fuel line to the fuel rail. The system I believe would be self-purging of air in fuel line from the pump to the engine because there is a return line to the tank and also the system runs at 50 psi. So I don't believe that you need to go through this entire process because of a hypothetical air in the line question.
Why not ask the friend to see about whether there are fault codes or not? Then if none, and you believe it is pressure issue (do you hear the fuel pump run that is located in the tank, for about 1 second, when you first turn the key to the 'run' position? That would corroborate that the pump power is present and the pump is working.
Once you know that, then the fault code, if any, would be the next step to solve the no-start.
