ClubCJ - The CJ Lancer Club

I recently had a problem with my 2010 CJ ES.

I'd moved it out of the driveway a few yards in the morning, as I was having some bodywork done to it by a repairman. This all went fine, but when he'd finished and I went back to the car it would not start - the starter turned, and the engine cranked, but no starting apart from a very short splutter at the beginning.

I cranked it over a few more times, but it got to the point where the battery would start to suffer if I did it much more.

I read the manual and had a look on the internet but couldn't find anything so called out the RACQ - they immediately diagnosed that the engine was flooded, and to clear it the guy held down the accelerator to the floor, then cranked it, and it started up after a few seconds. Apparently doing this puts the ECU into a 'flooding clear' mode.

According to the RACQ guy, the engine can flood if you only run the car from cold for a very short time, he reccomended in a similar situation let it go down to slow idle (about 6-700rpm on my ES) for at least 30 seconds before stopping the engine.

The car has been fine since then, and I have been on a few longer journeys to charge the battery.

Hope this helps someone else.

Yep car being hard to start is a common issue in CJs.
It used to happen a lot to me but hasn't for ages... It'd always work the second try though, I never required assistance.

If you use too much fuel and switch the car off straight after (eg getting up a steep driveway) or only start the car for a short time then it can cause this...

flooding clear mode, heh.

that method has been used well way before ecu`s were in cars.
the racq guy is probably right, it just strikes me as funny

Had the same issue with my BAFalcon auto choke stays on if started then stopped and started again soon after

Thanks for your replies guys. I had a very similar problem many years ago on a Citroen Saxo (which was not mine I hasten to add), but that time it turned out to be the fuel inertia sensor got tripped. I was helping a mate install a car alarm at the time so must have knocked it.

I initially thought that was the issue yesterday (the repairman did check under the bonnet for the paint code), but could not see a sensor under the bonnet nor could I find mention of one in the manual, so I guess perhaps the CJ Lancer doesn't have one.

Can confirm this problem on my 2010 Activ.
I live on a quite a steep hill, i find that letting it idle for about a minute prevents any further startup issue for the next day.

Engine flooding sucks; that's what killed my teg.... well that and the distributor failing from overheating. But on to bigger and better things.

Hasn't happened in my Lancer yet though; What I do is once I turn the car on I let it run for a few minutes and then turn it off; this is what I do whenever I turn the car on to drive it a little bit up or down the driveway or something. Hopefully you don't have to encounter this problem again mate, it's a really hateful thing to happen. :/

the engine can flood if you only run the car from cold for a very short time, he reccomended in a similar situation let it go down to slow idle (about 6-700rpm on my ES) for at least 30 seconds before stopping the engine? Never heard that before. Learn something new every day

my RA has done this to me today when i started it from cold it clicked over and wouldnt start the first time, When i tried the second time it started more harshly the revs played a bit before going normal. Ive only had the car for a week.

I always put the car to acc first for a few seconds to get the fuel pump and everything going before starting.

sleeper wrote:flooding clear mode, heh. that method has been used well way before ecu`s were in cars. the racq guy is probably right, it just strikes me as funny

Yep..exactly Steve...maybe the RACQ guy thought they still made carbies lol