Hard starting/no starting intermitent....

[Eclipse45150]

Ok heres the deal, I have a 98 eclipse n/t that got the tranny swapped to a manual (dont think that matters with this problem but anyway), can ran perfectly fine except for a o2 sensor code thats been there a little while and a little rough idle when at a stop. About two weeks ago when I was delivering pizzas all of a sudden it didnt want to start, it would crank and almost go but wouldnt. I gave it gas and tried for bout 5 min then stopped and waited, after about another minute I tried to give it gas and start it and it cranked, acted like it was gonna die and slowly went to regular idle. That would happen for the next week or so once every other day or every day. Since yesterday I does it about two to three times a day and takes longer to get it running. Yesterday I changed the spark plugs and wires, tried the ignition coil, and that didnt fix it. Im going to go change the fuel filter because it needs it anyway, but it doesnt seem to be anything with that because when it wont start you can start to smell the gas. Does anyone have any idea because Im out of resources and lost.

 

[SoilentGreen98]

Same thing pretty much happened to me 2 nights ago. Not quite sure what it is but my car is at the dealer right now.

 

[dr1665]

Could be a stuck injector that's flooding the engine. When it's idling like shit like that, anything come out the tail pipe?

 

[Eclipse45150]

Nope nothing unusual. And see the odd thing is it only does it when it wants to, like so far today it hasnt happened at all?!! And its not just at a cold or warm start.

 

[Eclipse45150]

Same thing pretty much happened to me 2 nights ago. Not quite sure what it is but my car is at the dealer right now.

Well bud if you dont mind let me know what you get... Im not findin any fixes on my end

 

[BigRand]

Well back a while ago, I made a post about how my car died while I was driving on the freeway, the rpms just shut off and everything.
It would crank over and everything but just wouldn't start, unless you let it sit for a while, then came back to it, started it up, and it would just die a few minutes later.
For me it had a lot to with electrical things as I couldn't keep the voltage up on the car, and something would continulous drain the battery and alternator wouldn't hold the charge either.

Turns out that my main groundwire for the car got exposed and fused itself onto my egr, and just kept draining it that way. Well re grounded everything and fixed that probelm, well actually I just dropped by brand new built motor in it and that fixed the problem.

But when your car is on, can it hold a steady voltage?

 

[SoilentGreen98]

Well bud if you dont mind let me know what you get... Im not findin any fixes on my end

Will do ........... once they freakin' call me back. They haven't even touched my car yet.

 

[Eclipse45150]

Well back a while ago, I made a post about how my car died while I was driving on the freeway, the rpms just shut off and everything.
It would crank over and everything but just wouldn't start, unless you let it sit for a while, then came back to it, started it up, and it would just die a few minutes later.
For me it had a lot to with electrical things as I couldn't keep the voltage up on the car, and something would continulous drain the battery and alternator wouldn't hold the charge either.

Turns out that my main groundwire for the car got exposed and fused itself onto my egr, and just kept draining it that way. Well re grounded everything and fixed that probelm, well actually I just dropped by brand new built motor in it and that fixed the problem.

But when your car is on, can it hold a steady voltage?

Yeah, my car has perfect voltage, and also have a spare battery so I dont think it could be that. but thank u for the idea

 

[Eclipse45150]

Well, an update, it did it again for about 20 freakin minutes, first time in two days. it would start but only go bout 1 or 200 rpm, act like it was gonna stall and never get up to sounding like it wants to stay running. If I put the gas on, it would die, if I didnt it would jus stay on but low??? After a while it started slow and went up to normal idle and ran fine. One of my friends suggested the idle/air sensor, tps, or map, any one have any idea if that could be a culprit?

 

[Eclipse45150]

Ok this is gettin really annoyin updating my own post this much, , but like I said, Im lost. I just got back from autozone, I checked the codes and the only one was an o2 sensor code so they recommened me to get one and I did, Im gonna try to replace it tomorrow and see if that fixes it. Anyone know if an o2 sensor would cause this crap or are they wastin my time? I agreed with them because there isnt a code for the tps, idle sensor or anything but I just wanted to ask you guys also.

 

[Old Mitsu Tech]

I would think the o2 sensor while probably a good idea to change as it's probably not been done lately probably will not fix this problem. If it's intermittent you can rule out fuel filter and such. Possibilities are fuel pump, catalytic converter with a stone plugging the outlet intermittently. With the engine cold, take the side of your fist and rap the converter. If it rattles you should really investigate it. Fuel pump can be intermittent. Your cas could be driving you nuts too. This could account for you smelling the gas. You may be losing fire. The cas is relatively inexpensive in the scheme of things and real easy to get to on the 420a engine. I would try the cas first. You can get more elaborate if this is not the fix. You may wind up driving the vehicle with a scanner attached in flight mode to see what you are losing. This would involve a professional technician as those aren't loaner tools. Good Luck

 

[420aVOS]

ok not so much a fix but a way to narrow things down, next time it wont start put the gas pedal to the floor. this will put the car in clear flood mode, no gas just spark and crank if it starts probly a bad injector if not.... not sure. my car did it to for awhile if i remeber what it was i will update

 

[EclipseTrbo420A]

could be your fuel pump acting up. A buddy of mine had the same problem, and a fuel pump fixed it. Just swap it out for a friends.

 

[SoilentGreen98]

And just so you know, on mine the electrical system is shorting out I found out. I believe it's something with my alarm.

 

[Eclipse45150]

Ok cool, thank you guys for thie info, I found a guy on ebay I can get used sensors for cheap and gonna try a fuel pump so no matter whats acting up on it it should get fixed . Thank again all