Been dealing with a fuel issue for a while and finally decided time to track down and see what the issue is. The car has 38K miles on it and is 100% original I bought it in 1997. So for the last couple years when i try to start it'll just crank. If I spray a little starting fluid in the intake it'll fire right away. Once the car has started I can turn off and restart just fine. I checked the fuel pressure this evening: When turning key on I only had 20 psi, once started it was 38 PSI while running, pulling the vacuum line off regulator pressure increased to 44 PSI and no fuel or leakage came out of regulator. I turned the car on/off a couple times and it started fine. Decided to see if the pressure would bleed off so waited 15 minutes and rechecked and it didn't bleed off so i bleed the pressure off then turned key on and pressure was 28PSI but it started. Any suggestions? Could the regulator not be allowing fuel through before startup?

 

Change fuel pump that psi is too low.

 

How long has it been since you changed the fuel filter? It sounds like a bad fuel pump but check the cheap and easy stuff first.

 

I am having similar issues with similar fuel pressure readings. I was going to have fuel pressure checked in case my fuel pressure gauge was not reading correct. I wanted to be sure before replacing the pump. I did replace pcv valve and fuel filter.

 

Sounds like it might be a problem with low voltage at the fuel pump when relying only on the battery. Once the engine starts, the alternator helps the voltage in the system recover. When turning the key to “run” without trying to start the engine, check the voltage gauge on the dash. If that shows healthy volts, check the volts at the connector for the fuel pump at the rear axle.

 

Have you tested the battery to see if it's good?