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i have an l series with an ej20t in (94i think) well just at the start of winter i gave her a service and once i changed the fuel filter the car became hard to start on cold mornings, it fires then instantly dies and eventually will start, not sure its its anything to do with the fuel filter, it might just be cause of the onset of winter, i have just changed the plugs and its made no difference, any ideas???

Do you have an imobiliser / key/pinpad to start it.
My dads sti sometimes does this. you punch in the code but it doesn't pump fuel to the engine so it starves itself. (as the imobiloiser pumps fuel to the injectors when activated)

Cheers Cam

Is the filter on the right way ?

yeah checked the filter, i even put the old old back on but made no difference, and the imoblizer seems all ok , i can here the fuel pump running, cheers thou

I'd be reading the ECU diagnostics - it sounds to me like you've got a sensor that's dud. My guess would be the temp sensor as this is what happened to my EJ22 last year in the snow when I unfortunately froze the block.

I also replaced the knock sensor - if yours is cracked I recommend having it changed as it won't be working efficiently and could be causing an issue. To get mine started last year it was about 20 "fires & dies" until it would maintain a VERY poor idle - go any where near the throttle for 5 minutes and it would die instantly.
I replaced the temp sensor, knock sensor and a cleaned 2nd hand Throttle position sensor to get her back to where she needed to be.

Does it run properly after you get it started?

Cheers

Bennie

the check engine light does come on now and again and i have read the ecu and it comes up with no faults, but the coolant temp sensor sounds like a good bet, it only seems to happen when its been a chilly night. i have also noticed that fuel pump relay is connected straight to the ignition rather than ecu (as it never stops), wondering if this could cause a problem somehow, cheers for the help

and once started it seems fine

gazcull wrote:i have also noticed that fuel pump relay is connected straight to the ignition rather than ecu (as it never stops), wondering if this could cause a problem somehow, cheers for the help

Yeah I'd want that connected to the ECU mainly for safety reasons.

Have you read the codes yet?

Cheers

Bennie

yeah i read the codes and it comes up clear, which is a bit weird, where exactly is the temp sensor, i can't seem to find it, cheers