Intermittent 182 start-up issue

[pj_sibley]

Ever since I bought my 182 Trophy in July, it's started up in one of two ways:

1) Rifle quick on the key, no hesitation or stuttering, settling to idle immediately
2) Hesitant, turning over fine and sparking then eventually creeping into life and settling to idle

As the car has a new battery, coil pack, ignition leads and spark plugs, I doubt the issue is electrical (happy to be put straight on this!). I'm wondering if it could be a fuelling problem, perhaps a weak one-way return valve, FPR or fuel pump unit?

I've also had the engine management light flashing on two occasions recently, both when stationary at idle and both with the nose of the car pointing slightly uphill. In both cases, the light stopped flashing after pulling away. The car drivers SUPERBLY in all other respects, with no power loss or hesitation in the revs. Interestingly, between the two flashing engine management light occurrences, I replaced the injectors, ignition leads and ignition coil with genuine items as part of an engine overhaul.

I'm not sure if the two issues are related, but suspect they could be....any thoughts?

 

[pj_sibley]

Having done a bit more research, I'm wondering whether a weak fuel pump or fuel pressure regulator at the tank end is leading to incomplete/poor priming at the head end on start-up?

There also seem to be a few reports of VPower 99 fuel causing similar start-up issues due to it's viscosity, which seems a little far-fetched?! Interesting, however, the previous owner used 95 RON and I switched to 99 upon taking up ownership.

Not sure how the start-up AND flashing engine management light issues could both be related to fuel supply issues, other than to cause an injector supply problem perhaps?