Stalls after succesful start

Hello all

Early 2003 TF 135   
Starts great everytime, but after 5-6 seconds stalls if I don’t accelerate vigorously. In that case, dies out like being out of petrol. Haven’t tried to drive it out of my garage (I don’t dare), but it seems to be getting worse. 

As the car is 21 years old and it’s a keeper, I had already planned to change the fuel pump. In fact I have already purchased one (and the FPR) from Mike Satur. 
Any suggestions??

Thanks so much, 
Pedro

When you say unless you accelerate vigorously, am I correct in thinking you mean pump the pedal rapidly up and down to keep it going?

And, if you do that enough, can you get the engine to run better as it warms up, and, if so, once it has warmed up, does it run perfectly well?

If that is the case, I would be suspecting a faulty coolant temperature sensor telling the ECU the engine is hot when it’s stone cold). (The temp sensor that speaks to the ECU, not the one that feeds the dashboard, if you have a separate one.)

Do you have any diagnostic equipment, such as PSCAN, or diagnostic software, that could tell you what temperature the ECU thinks the coolant is at?

(If the problem was the fuel supply eg low fuel pressure or blocked filter, I’d expect a rapid pumping of the pedal to make it worse because you’d be demanding even more fuel to accelerate the engine.    Those are my initial thoughts, anyway.)

Thanks for the fast answer 😊

I don’t have pscan (yet) and you were right about the accelerating. I have not tried to keep it going on the road as I am afraid of having to be towed to the workshop, but I can do it next Friday without leaving my place.

Sounds good. In that case, warm up the car in your garage, pumping the accelerator as required for the first minute or 2, get it warm so it idles perfectly, then do a snap throttle test - dip the accelerator quickly and let go quickly (no more than one second in total) and check how the engine responds. You will dip it quick enough not to rev the hell out of it, that’s not the aim. The aim is to check the engine responds instantly and without hesitation (deviation or repetition 😀). It shouldn’t really get over 2000 rpm.

And if it performs exactly as normal, back onto the drive and check it pulls forwards, and then with that confidence take it round the block. And if it still performs perfectly, I think you can confidently go and order a new coolant temperature sensor. But if you do have a separate temp sensor for the dashboard (which probably only has a single wire), make sure you order the correct 2-wire sensor that goes to the ECU.

But if it doesn’t work as I’ve described, and it still plays up even when warm/hot, please come back and expand on it.

I suspect you’ve done the correct thing with the fuel pump. I haven’t experienced any pump problems but there have been a number of folk complaining of strange goings on, which have been sorted with a replacement pump.
M

Yeah the fuel pumps in these things do have a tendency to become demon possessed 

Thanks so much for the answers. I will do as you say on Friday and will let you know. I forgot to add that fuel filter and injectors are new and ECU is a KMaps.

For info:-

It's the top coolant temp sensor being discussed here. 

Incidentally any cheap obd II reader will show up a dodgy sensor.

Thanks! That helps me familiarise with the engine.
Going under the engine cover for the first time this weekend.

Don’t forget to tie a piece of string to a good known point & then to your belt. This will help you on your return, if you get lost.
M

😁😁😁😁😁😁

Thank you David