92 Laser won't start when cold

[spyderturbo007]

I am looking to purchase a '92 Laser. It's a AWD Turbo and has a problem starting when it's cold. Apparently they were able to get the car started a couple of times with starting fluid The current owner said that after sitting for 4 months it fired right up (after charging the battery). He drove it about 30 minutes with no problem and then it was parked to be sold.

Since then there has been an intermitent problem starting the vehicle when it is cold. Any ideas what it could be? I haven't had a chance to look at the vehicle thoroughly (I will be doing that this afternoon). Any suggestions?

The only things I can come up with is coolant temp sensor and possible leaking caps in the ECU.

My buddy has a Snap-On scanner I will be using to check the coolant temp sensor and I am going to try get the guy to let me pull the ECU to check the caps. I am also going to try and pull the battery cable for 10 minutes or so to try and reset the ECU and see if that helps. I really don't know anything about the 92 Lasers and ANY ideas would be helpful!

Thanks again guys/gals!

 

[awdlaser26]

I bought a 92 laser and had the same problem. There are several things that could cause this, but mine did end up being the ECU. My car was hard to start cold and after a few days it started running really bad. Would max out about 3500rpm and smoke. Found a guy on ebay that rebuilds them and sells them pretty cheap. Good luck.

 

[1.8laser90]

i have a 92 laser awd it had the same prolblem. when i first baught it, it needed a ecu so I replaced it with a rebiult one from autozone. We installed the ecu and it wouldn't start. the person who I baught it off of (one of my relatives) said it was hard to start when it was cold and finally just wouldn't start( ecu finaly went). after checking timming, spark and fuel I couldn't find why it wouldn't start. i finaly got curious and just started cranking the engine over, the more i tryed starting it it actually started to fire and try to.. 10 minutes later and almost dead battery it started up like it was the first start. so i have no clue what could of caused it to not start. it has not done this since then which was a year ago. when we baught the car it had not bin started for a year since the ecu was bad and never got to replace it. I would say it is the ecu or u said it has bin sitting, maybe that could be the cause also

 

[spyderturbo007]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I just wanted to let you know that I missed the boat by about 10 minutes.

It was sold right before I got there. 92 RS AWD Turbo. Excellent interior, except for a small rip in the dash. Good paint, there was a little flaking on the top of the mirrors and the clear on the hood was starting to turn white. It had 145k and ran like a top (after you got it started )

It sold for $1000. DAMNIT