hi i have a 1996 type ra iv only had it a week, it starts fine from cold but after a short distance like to the shop i leave it too cool down for 1 min and then turn the car of, and a couple of mins later i get back in to it and try to start it just tries to start but dosnt, this has happend 3 times now, has any one gotn any ideas, thanks for your help dan

 

First ports of call is checking the air fuel ratio when warm and if there is spark/fuel injection present during cranking when the engine won't start.

Possibly a crank or cam sensor issue. Also worth checking the operation of the coolant temp sensor.

 

how do i do all that mate i have not got a clue realy about cars, can you tell me how to check these things thanks

 

when it doesn't start on key will it bump start?

 

i havent tried to bump start it. i just leave it for 30 mins and then it starts with key

 

Being honest, I wouldn't know how to put all the diagnosis work into a concise enough post that would be to the point to exactly cure your problem; Simply due to the amount of causes it could or could not be.

To the point.....

To find out if the car is running too rich or lean: That would require taking the car to somewhere who can measure the exhaust gasses.

And to test the crank/cam sensora ideally needs an oscilloscope.

The only alternaitive is to swap the aforementioned parts with known good ones untill it cures the problem. But thats hit and miss, as it could be something else at fault that has yet to be mentioned...

 

Not 100% it is the fault but this sounds like a crank sensor problem.

It is only used on start up, and with age breaks down. it is fine when cold, but once warmed up does not give the correct readings, causing the car not to start.

I'd also do a compression test to see what the readings are.

Do you know if it still using the orig ECU? if so, are you using v-power and octane boost?

 

I had exact same symptoms on my 95 RA earlier this month. Car started first time every time when cold, but when I had driven as little as half a mile to petrol station it would not start on the forecourt. I had to fiddle with PFC cranking times to get car to start when warm and ended up with some very large cranking times at 80C to get it to start!

Be warned! I left it too long before fixing and then one morning it wouldn't start at all from cold no matter what settings I fiddled. Putting a digimeter on the crank sensor terminals showed a very high resistance reading (should be somewhere around 2KOhm for crank AND cam sensor on that model year)

Crank sensor is a five minute fitment but part isn't cheap (100 quid+). Unfortunately PFC doesn't do fault codes, so when I was diagnosing the problem my local specialist gave me a cam sensor to interchange too since apparently this can cause similar problems.

 

[QUOTE=RA95;7071711]I had exact same symptoms on my 95 RA earlier this month. Car started first time every time when cold, but when I had driven as little as half a mile to petrol station it would not start on the forecourt. I had to fiddle with PFC cranking times to get car to start when warm and ended up with some very large cranking times at 80C to get it to start!

hi mate. how do i fiddle with that pfc cranking times. its my first subaru so havent really got a clue about the car, what is the millage on your type ra, have u got any bits for sale?

 

PFC is an aftermarket ECU allowing a multitude of things to be tweaked.

If you have a standard ECU you should be able to get a fault code when the car won't start. Plenty of sites on the internet giving info on how to get these. Really sounds like one of your sensors is on the way out and needs replaced. A subaru garage/specialist should be able to diagnose which sensor is wrong, or you can check the impedance of the sensors with a multimeter.

Milage on my RA is 88000km but it had a new engine and gearbox rebuild at 82000km so mileage is irrelevant!

No parts for sale, sorry!!! Traded them all in for upgrades.

 

classic crank sensor fault symphtoms as have been said..

Simon