My 4/4 (tuned Ecotec VVTi with MBE ECU) has been getting more and more reluctant to start over the last couple of thousand miles. Nothing too terrible, it runs fine once it's going, but it's worse when it's been sat for a while, sometimes taking a good lot of cranking to fire.
So today I decided it was time to do something. Fuel pump valve letting fuel drain away from the injectors? Knackered spark plugs? Clogged air filter?
I reasoned that the fuel pump was hardly likely to be at fault as the engine's only done 50k miles, so I cleaned and re-oiled the K&N filter, squirted a load of MAF sensor cleaner about the place, and took the spark plugs out for an inspection. Although a lovely light tan, the gaps were a bit big I thought, so I closed them up to a bit over 30 thou (Iridium plugs).
Put everything pack together, and the thing now bursts into life suitably promptly and settles into a very steady idle, most satisfying. Now the only thing nagging me is which bit is likely to have had the most effect? There weren't any misfire or MAF codes stored, and the air filter, although grubby, was not clogged by any stretch of the imagination.
