The last two weekends in a row I went camping with my car (95 GSR) and both times I didn't start it for a few days and both times it rained. The car has been very hard to start. It turns over but it won't start. Not even a sputter. Well actually eventually I get it started. I usually "pump" (holding it down did nothing) the petal and it starts, but very slowly and it sputters for about 30 seconds before coming to a normal idle. I've never noticed this problem before. The difficult thing is I'm not sure if it is the high humidity or the not starting it for 3 days that is causing the problem. I normal start it everyday and I have never seen this problem. Anyone have any ideas of where to start looking? My car has about 195K km on it.

 

Used from a post by "The Oz" from www.g2ic.com


Engine rotates but will not start

- Fuel tank empty.
- Battery discharged.
- Battery terminal connections loose or corroded.
- Leaking fuel injectors, faulty fuel pump, faulty fuel pressure regulator.
- Fuel not reaching the fuel rail.
Ignition components damp or damaged.
- Worn, faulty or incorrectly gapped spark plugs.
- Broken, loose or disconnected wiring in the starting circuit.
- Loose distributor is changing ignition timing.
- Broken, loose or disconnected wires at the ignition coil or faulty coil.

It could also be your MFR (main fuel relay) if it is hard to start when its hot outside, somtimes the soldered connections on these melt and come loose in exremly hot tempuratures and it needs to be re-soldered...not hard only takes a few minutes....

 

I'll start picking away at the "ignition parts damp or damaged" section.

The plugs should still be OK. But the cap and rotor haven't been changed in it for quite a while. I'm sure at least 75k KM ago. And I still have the stock plug wires which are now about 9 years old and have 195k KM on them. It just seems funny how the damp cold causes the failure to occur. The plug wires have a pretty tight seal on the boot. I would think that moisture would not be able to get in there. It must be the cold causing the problem because the other thing that was different this weekend was leaving it for a couple of days without starting it and I have left the car in the garage for a few days at a time before with no problems. Thanks for the suggestions.

 

I would definatly replace the cap and rotor if it has been that long, its not hard, not expensive, and may solve all your problems, who knows maybe that was what was getting damp, but im pretty sure 75k km is WAY past the service that thing needs,,,