Help! 93 Festiva starting problem

[ghettopizza]

I've got a problem that is driving me nuts. Every once in a while at completely random times my car will not start. It turns over great, but won't fire. I've been dealing with this problem on and off for months now. It seems to follow this pattern: car won't start, open hood fiddle with wires check all the connections, usually after 5 minutes or so of trying it will suddenly start right up, run fine for days or even weeks, then with no warning it happens again. I've replaced all the spark plug wires, had a brand new distributor put on, tried replacing the ignition coil, took it to Firestone and paid for a complete engine diagnostic including having a mechanic check every wire (of course they could not duplicate the problem despite hours of trying). I don't know what to do, it's happened to me twice in the last two days, so far I haven't been stranded but it is really annoying. It's always the same thing, car won't start, get out and pop the hood check all the connections and usually after 6 or 7 tries it will start and start after than every time until after a while until it does it again. Does this sound like a known Festiva quirk to any of you? Or should I just take it back to the shop and have them look at it again? I'm not much of a mechanic so try and stick to layman's terms. Thanks!

[warlocke]

sounds like your ecu could be going bad and telling the engine not to fire, or could be a bad wire from the coil, just some places to start lol

[mechanicaldj]

if it starts right up after 7 tries and doesn't belch black smoke, then i would be looking at your fuel pump relay and/or your fuel pump

[warlocke]

didnt even think about that, ya that should be checked as well lol