98 Safari Erratic starting

PLACE ANY ISSUES RELATED TO YOUR VAN NOT STARTING OR STARTING HARD IN HERE.
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Topic author
byacey
I am merely driving my van
I am merely driving my van
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Feb 08, 2011 8:39 pm

98 Safari Erratic starting

Post by byacey »

My 98 Safari has been getting erratic as far as starting. Once running it seems to be fine. Fuel pressure comes up to 61 psi right away, although the fuel pump seems to be running for a lengthy period of time when the ignition is switched on before cranking. I recently changed the cap and rotor, but this didn't make any difference. The EGR has been acting up for some time throwing codes, so I swapped it out. No codes in memory buffer now.

This morning with a cold engine I had to crank it for about 5 seconds before it would start, and then once it was started it ran for about a minute on fast idle, and then sounded like it was going to die for a few seconds and then sped up to fast idle again running fine for 30 seconds or so only to slow down and sputter for a few seconds again. This cycle repeated itself about 4 times until it stalled and wouldn't fire when trying to re-start.

The fuel pump was replaced about a year ago and is making good pressure at the schrader valve at the engine. I'm wondering if there's an internal fuel leak which would account for the lengthy run time on the fuel pump when the ignition is on / engine not running. This problem started about a month ago, and the first incident was the engine stalling dead at a stop sign after starting the engine cold and driving about a 1/4 mile. It wouldn't re-start at that time. Subsequent to that I've been driving it without any problems, seems to drive normal except for perhaps a little longer cranking time than normal when starting.

I haven't pulled the plugs yet to see if there's an over- rich condition, but when I first start it, the exhaust doesn't smell like raw fuel. Ignition seems to be fine. Could the ignition control module cause symptoms like these?

Topic author
byacey
I am merely driving my van
I am merely driving my van
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Feb 08, 2011 8:39 pm

Re: 98 Safari Erratic starting

Post by byacey »

Again the other day it wouldn't start in the morning, so I pulled the doghouse and checked for spark with my spark gap tester; it seemed fine. After putting the plug wire back on the distributor that I was testing on, I noticed an arcing noise when I cranked the engine again. Looking towards the coil I could see lots of arcing around the secondary insulator tower.

I picked up a coil; what a PITA to remove, it seems the bracket for the accelerator pedal cables hold half the van together, which must be removed to take out the coil. The new coil must be bolted to the original bracket, so the rivets had to be chiseled off the old coil.

I'll post back in a day or so and report back the results. Is there any possibility for a moderator to move this to the no start forum? When I started this thread I didn't realize there were sub forums.

LiftedAWDAstro
I have my van tatooed on my cheeks
Posts: 4379
Joined: Sat Sep 09, 2006 3:35 pm
Location: New Haven, NY

Re: 98 Safari Erratic starting

Post by LiftedAWDAstro »

Glad you got it running. Hopefully that was all it was.

(Moved the thread for you too)
Current rides:
2013 Toyota Tundra DC 4x4
2008 Dodge Nitro 4x4
2005 Nissan Sentra 1.8S Special Edition

Mileage spreadsheet

Vans owned:
1986 Safari 2.5L 4 speed manual - scrapped
1995 Astro 2WD conversion 4.11 posi, shift kit, DHC rock rails - sold to Skippy
1998 Astro 4x4 D44, D60, NP231, full hydraulic system with 9k# Milemarker winch and snow plow - sold to Lockdoc
2003 Astro AWD all stock - traded for a 3/4 ton truck
2005 AWD, 4.10's - sold to skippy

Topic author
byacey
I am merely driving my van
I am merely driving my van
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Feb 08, 2011 8:39 pm

Re: 98 Safari Erratic starting

Post by byacey »

It seems to have been starting good the last few days. The strange thing is before I discovered the HV leakage at the coil, I did have spark at the distributor that would arc blue over an 1/8 inch gap on the spark gap tester. Why it wouldn't fire is a mystery.
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