Festy wont start after 5-6 short trips, daily.

[hermit]

right now im learning to drive my 91 festiva and it is a standard, im used to automatic so im trying to get the hang of it at the moment. so im pretty much just backing up, turning arround,drive arround the block and park it, wait 10 minutes and do it all over again, see im forced to learn this way because I have no one to help me out learning to drive due to conflicting work schedules and i cant register/insure or drive my car without a license, so i just go for extremely quick small trips for a quick learning. it fires up in seconds and each trip after i get back it starts up slower and slower and needs more cranking until it wont fire up at all (usually 4 or 6 trip) come back the next day and it fires up fine on the spot and progressively gets worse as i make my trips..

the battery is brand new
i pulled the coil plug cable and spark plug cables and they seemed to have big chunks pf silicone on them (like a vaseline look)
battery connection is strong
cranks, cranks, no clicking or sputtering.

thanks in advance ops:

[donna]

may want to check battery with engine running, with ohm meter it should be reading about 13+ dc volts, will show if battery is getting charge from alternator or not. battery may not be getting charged enough with short run times.

[FestYboy]

OR the starter is slowly cooking while driving and causing a high resistance condition within the motor (assuming that the engine cranks progressively slower as the day goes on) If not, then i'm w/ donna in thinking the alt is out (if it's an electrical problem)

just for grins, look at your oil level before and after the car has warmed up (but not running) if there's a segnigant differance, you should flush and change your oil. low or no oil pressure can keep the ECM from commanding spark or injector firing.

[wrestler3025]

"i pulled the coil plug cable and spark plug cables and they seemed to have big chunks pf silicone on them (like a vaseline look)"

That's di electric grease. It helps with the connections and it also keeps moisture out and your terminals from corroding

[packrat427]

Do you mean the engine spins excessive before it actually fires .

Have you checked the fuel filter lately ?

Mine does that , cold it fires right up , when it is hot (engine ) is spins a little more that normal , BUT only when it is very hot and humid out .

I still blame it on the quality of gasoline .