Starting problems sometimes

[kned33]

Most of the time my 91 festiva GL fuel injected vehicle starts up fine. Sometime though I have to crank the engine 4, 5,6 or even ten to twelve times to start it. Any ideas as to why that happens. It does not seem to matter if it has been off a short time or a long time. :?

[jglutz]

How does it run after it starts? How does it idle?
Could be ignition...could be fule related.....could be all nite long.....
Just a quick item to check....make sure all of the ingnition wires are fully seated then pull the distributor cap and look inside at the post and rotor...the post and rotor (electrical contacts) should not be full of crud...if they are clean with a wire brush, steel wool, very fine sand paper...reasseble and give it a shot...if it works...change the rotor, cap, wires, plugs.
Just a start.

[kned33]

How does it run after it starts? How does it idle?
Could be ignition...could be fule related.....could be all nite long.....
Just a quick item to check....make sure all of the ingnition wires are fully seated then pull the distributor cap and look inside at the post and rotor...the post and rotor (electrical contacts) should not be full of crud...if they are clean with a wire brush, steel wool, very fine sand paper...reasseble and give it a shot...if it works...change the rotor, cap, wires, plugs.
Just a start.

As far as I can tell it runs fine after it starts. I'll check distributor, post, rotor. The plugs are probalbly due for a change. Thanks for start.

[miami man]

mine sounded like that and it was a badly corroded coil wire going into the distrbuter cap and the only to tell is to pull the wire out of the cap.

[jglutz]

mine sounded like that and it was a badly corroded coil wire going into the distrbuter cap and the only to tell is to pull the wire out of the cap.

Very common problem!!

[kned33]

As soon as it stops raining I will investigate. Suppose to rain all week long. I also have to change the thermostat because it is running too cold. I read the sticky so I have the info now that I need to get the right one. Thanks for the input.

[skeeters_keeper]

mine had a similar problem but i have narrowed it down to happening under certain conditions, let me know if yours is the same:

if i'm starting the car cold (i.e. after sitting all night long, or after a 10hr day at work) it will fire on the first crank. whether its 20* or 60* out doesn't make a difference. If the car is warm and i re-start it within about 1 to 1/2 hr it will start on the first crank. anything in between those times and it will turn over 6+ times before it catches.

Now i just replaced the battery and since then it hasn't done it, but that was like 3 days ago and i haven't had just the right combination to make it happen yet so i'm not sure whether that fixed it or not.

My disty cap and rotor, plugs and wires are new and all the connections are clean, greased, and good. The engine is my like-new re-built B6, i have the stock ign coil... haven't been able to figure out whats causing it yet! Engine runs fine other than that...

[kned33]

mine had a similar problem but i have narrowed it down to happening under certain conditions, let me know if yours is the same:

if i'm starting the car cold (i.e. after sitting all night long, or after a 10hr day at work) it will fire on the first crank. whether its 20* or 60* out doesn't make a difference. If the car is warm and i re-start it within about 1 to 1/2 hr it will start on the first crank. anything in between those times and it will turn over 6+ times before it catches.

Now i just replaced the battery and since then it hasn't done it, but that was like 3 days ago and i haven't had just the right combination to make it happen yet so i'm not sure whether that fixed it or not.

My disty cap and rotor, plugs and wires are new and all the connections are clean, greased, and good. The engine is my like-new re-built B6, i have the stock ign coil... haven't been able to figure out whats causing it yet! Engine runs fine other than that...

I think I had it narrowed down to happening when I had the car off for only a short period of time. One minute or so. If I reved the engine before turning it off for a minute it started better. Then it didn't seem to matter one minute a half hour or hour or even over night I still periodically have trouble starting it. You talk about the Aspire swap, what does that intell? I gather the B6 is the engine out of the Aspire.

[jglutz]

if i'm starting the car cold (i.e. after sitting all night long, or after a 10hr day at work) it will fire on the first crank. whether its 20* or 60* out doesn't make a difference. If the car is warm and i re-start it within about 1 to 1/2 hr it will start on the first crank. anything in between those times and it will turn over 6+ times before it catches.

Sounds like a classic case electonic vapor lock (that's an analogy)...the CTS is going goofy...telling the PCM it is warm at startup...the ECU dumps less fuel.

If i remeber correctly, the ISC has a wax motor taht could also be goofy

[kned33]

if i'm starting the car cold (i.e. after sitting all night long, or after a 10hr day at work) it will fire on the first crank. whether its 20* or 60* out doesn't make a difference. If the car is warm and i re-start it within about 1 to 1/2 hr it will start on the first crank. anything in between those times and it will turn over 6+ times before it catches.

Sounds like a classic case electonic vapor lock (that's an analogy)...the CTS is going goofy...telling the PCM it is warm at startup...the ECU dumps less fuel.

If i remeber correctly, the ISC has a wax motor taht could also be goofy

What is CTS and ISC and ECU:?: I'm still learning acronyms.

[FB71]

CTS = Coolant Temperature Sensor/Switch. Ford actually calls it an ECT = Engine Coolant Temp
ISC = Idle Speed Control. Ford calls it an IAC = Idle Air Control
ECU = Engine Control Unit, or engine computer, Can also be called ECM (Engine Control Module), PCM (Powertrain), CPU (Central Processing Unit)

[skeeters_keeper]

if i'm starting the car cold (i.e. after sitting all night long, or after a 10hr day at work) it will fire on the first crank. whether its 20* or 60* out doesn't make a difference. If the car is warm and i re-start it within about 1 to 1/2 hr it will start on the first crank. anything in between those times and it will turn over 6+ times before it catches.

Sounds like a classic case electonic vapor lock (that's an analogy)...the CTS is going goofy...telling the PCM it is warm at startup...the ECU dumps less fuel.

If i remeber correctly, the ISC has a wax motor taht could also be goofy

that sounds like it might be it! I haven't been concerned yet, so I haven't really tried to figure it out, but that makes sense. If its cranking and i tap the gas it fires right away, leading me to assume its probably a fuel problem like you suggest. I should take the CTS off of my B3 and pop it on the B6 to see if that fixes it.
I have been running the engine cold lately (temp gauge never goes above the "C" line), I think the Tstat that came with the B6 might be a single stage and swapping over to the Tstat that is in the B3 might fix it, but i wouldn't expect that to have anything to do with the starting problem? Though perhaps it helps to explain my poor gas mileage.

Kned33:
The B6 I have in my car is mazda's 1.6l SOHC 8v engine. it is the bigger brother to the B3 (1.3l SOHC 8v), which we have in our cars. The aspire also has the B3, not the B6. The B6 in my car came out of an 89 mazda 323, but they were also in some mercury tracers.
When people talk about an "aspire swap" they are almost certainly referring to the brakes, because the aspire brakes will pretty much bolt up to the festiva and are much larger than stock festiva brakes.

You'll pick up on all the acronyms and swaps and stuff as you go along!

[jglutz]

ISC = Idle Speed Control. Ford calls it an IAC = Idle Air Control

My fault....worked on way to may 4cyl GM's with that crap stepper/plunger that rattles it self to death.

and

Jim, doesn't the IAC have a wax motor that goes bad?

[kned33]

Thanks for solving anagrams. Do you know anybody in the San Luis Obispo area of California where a festy could be worked on inside. Rain is schedule for the next week.

[FB71]

yes, has a wax motor and variable current solenoid.