Hi guys,
Ive got a 97 5 Litre NL, which i am very happy with, and also runs fine (When she runs)

So when i go to start the car for the first time or cold engine she will start like a charm, but if the engine was on 10-20 mins ago she normally needs to wait with the bonnet open for 10-20mins to cooldown before her revs will go over 1000...and it sounds like it is struggling alot and then just idles out. If i dont touch the pedal, she will just idle out.

So what it takes to start

Cold engine (normally)
A bit of Throttle to push it over the 1-2000 rev mark
Luck???

What it takes to make it NOT start.

Warm engine? (10-20 mins of driving)

Guys i took this into ford and although i told the guy i had just gotten a new fuel pump, he blamed it on that anyways. So i put a new fuel pump in, to no avail, Thanks guy! But i have been advised that it could be the throttle body? But i cannot find any info from anyone else with problems for this part. I would appreciate any sort of help with this, possiblities? the next step to take, im sick of taking it to be checked to them to just tell me its the fuel pump or something i have already replaced.

*new* Leads, Dizzy cap, sparkies, fuel pump

Thanks a mil guys.

Well if you have done the leads, then there is a possibility of the TFI module perhaps being faulty. It's the only thing I can think of that may be an issue after engine temperature has been brought up.

It could be the fuel pressure regulator.

Thanks for the replies guys -_- Fuel pressure is/was ok atleast last check. I will have another look.

I should mention that the car is idling at 700-800....Once had a mate set the "base idle?" to 1000. Which was working f**k awesome for a while. Then unfortunately the revs started dying again on startup.....Hope that helps a lil more.

your other problem could be with a faulty idle speed control unit (icu) when they usually screw up your idles go way up but it way have screwed up in reverse in which case the unit is keeping the revs down

idle speed control unit,
Sweet. Thank you so much. I will look into this asap and let you know how i go.

By the way, just to clarify, the car runs fine when she starts...lol so aslong as the car starts the revs are fine (sometimes not very responsive though) . Its only problem is starting...

I will go to look for one anyways, how much will that unit roughly cost me? (if you know)

Regards, Jack.

What does the car sound like and whats revs roughly does the car hold at when you unplug the idle speed controller? I find it strange that it is hard to start only after is warm, so as Vic said I would tend to think something is breaking down due to heat such as leads, TFI etc.

Ok Well. When the car is having trouble starting, it will slowly just clunk out and die. If i try to give it gas, it will make a loud thudding/banging noise (on the left i think?) and then eventually it will just clunk down and die aswell.

Normally if it gets over about ~ 3000revs its fine (this is after it has been sitting for a while trying to start, so i've had to turn the car off, open the bonnet, let it cool down and try again 5-10 mins later, sometimes can take 20-30 mins which is extremely annoying for short trips)

I cant tell you yet what the car holds idle at without the idle speec controller, because i am at work, but i CAN tell you that the car idles at a low level, about 700-800...Like i said earlier i once had someone to change the revs to sit on 1000 but thats all we just adjusted it. sat it on 1000 it worked fine no matter how many times i turned it on and off...but about after a day maybe not even i had the problem again -_-

Get a CO2 check done.
It is starting to sound like it may have done a head gasket as you describe it more.

id try the coil if its once the engine heats up. spark breakdown