I have an early 93 BB4 which has been spending the summer in southern France, and seems to object to starting when hot.

This can happen after being parked in the sun for a couple of hours, or sometimes after just stopping for about 5 mins on a hot day. It's black as well, so it doesn't exactly reflect the sun's energy away.

So far I've been able to get it going each time by lifting the hood and giving it a few minutes to cool off. I'm just worried that one day it's not going to co-operate, and my wife is getting reluctant to go out in it on her own - seeing that it's mainly her car this is becoming an issue!

It strikes me as a classic vapor-lock problem in a fuel line somewhere. The engine has no running problems, and has recently had a service, plugs etc.

Does anyone know if this is a "feature" of this model? If so are there any tricks to prevent it - moving or shielding a particular fuel pipe for example? Or might it be a fuel-injection management problem?

Any thoughts or experiences welcome.

TIA
Rick Jones

 

did you listen to see if the fuel pump is coming on when you turn the key on? If its not i bet its your main relay going bad.

 

ive heard of the main realy being a problem when hot

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by machine4321 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">ive heard of the main realy being a problem when hot </TD></TR></TABLE>

that's the case most of the time

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by PrettyLude &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

that's the case most of the time</TD></TR></TABLE>

Interesting - but if that were the case, would it not show problems running once it is warm? I assume if the main relay drops out, everything stops?

It runs 100% reliably, just sometimes doesn't want to start.

Thanks

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Rick Jones &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Interesting - but if that were the case, would it not show problems running once it is warm? I assume if the main relay drops out, everything stops?

It runs 100% reliably, just sometimes doesn't want to start.

Thanks</TD></TR></TABLE>
Yep i believe thats how the relay problem is. Theres a thread somewhere that tells you how to resolder your existing relay if you are having problems. Search for main relay and you'll probably find it. If you can solder you can probably fix the problem for free.