Standard 05STI with PPP , when left for a long period in the sun ie all day at the station , it takes a lot of cranking to get it to splutter into life , after that it's fine and in the mornings too it's fine. I would guess it's some kind of fuel evaporation ? I've not had this symptom on my 2 previous Scoobies .Is this a symptom of the STI or is something a miss here do you reckon ?

thanks for any views

 

I've never experienced that on my 05 PPP STI. My previous STI used to have trouble starting sometimes, but that was to do with the usual battery problems...

 

Never had such problem on MY04 STi.

 

Thanks for the replies , looks like I'm just the lucky one then ?

 

I'm having starting probs. with my 03 STi Loads of battery power (new!) Problem is mainly when cold but is still there when warm. I'm suspecting the crank posn. sensor as it's fine once running including the correct cold fast idle.
The sensors are expensive so I need to find one to try before confirming!
It's becoming a pain in the ****!

JohnD

 

Interesting John , I agree it's getting a bit annoying as it sounds like an old spitfire starting up

Dave

 

My MY03 STi doesn't start as well as it could at the moment. I think it needs a plug change. Most often it fires, you release the starter then it splutters out. You know it will be reluctant to go without some serious cranking after that. It does seem to help if you hold the throttle at least half open while cranking and let go as soon as it fires. If your crank sensor was faulty I reckon you would have more trouble than just starting.

 

The heat just killed the battery in the classic Dave, swapped it for the deadflat spec D battery and after a couple of trips its much better and charged. Check the levels in the battery I would. I just bought an optima blue top battery for the spec D 765 cold cranking deep cycle job.

 

Cheers Stu , I bet the new battery got a good coat of wax too , another thing to clean at the weekend

 

That's exactly the problem I had on my 53 STI. I took it to Subaru as it was still under warranty and they said that it needed a new engine map or something like that Anyway, I took it back (a special technician apparently had to be called out from Subaru), left it a few hours and when I picked it up the problem was sorted...

 

Just a quick buff, LoL this battery is mean't for boats and marine machinery so I think the lack of use issue/dead battery will be sorted

 

Interesting. I owned a very lightly modded 02 WRX and never had any probs. Just changed to an 03 STI PPP and I park it at work in the same place in the sun and it doesn't start as easily. In fact I've been concerned, I find pumping the throttle while it starts turning over then back off the pumping and the turning over and let it splutter a bit and it goes.......

 

Sounds like we have the same problem , I'll have a go at your pumping technique

 

I don't know if this applies to pre-DBWire cars but the ECU calibrates the throttle when you turn the car on so pressing the peddle is a no no when starting.

 

I have had something simmilar on my Uk classic (very rarely). Now i always turn the key and leave it long enough until the pump stops priming before i actually crank the engine. Have never had a problem when using this technique. My problem seems to occur in the direct sunlight also....
I put it down to the immobiliser not cutting out quick enough.

 

Iv read quite a few threads regarding same issue, seems it can happen to a lot cars. I think its mainly to do with load on battery, well in my case anyway. Once my battery has just been fully charged then car fires into life instantaneously but on most occassions it takes a bit of turning by the starter motor.

 

Never tried that, Il give it a go

 

My battery is brand new 62 Ahr with 600A cranking power! I bought this as a possible cure as one of the cells on the existing battery was very low and I thought it was having trouble in feeding the starter and the ignition, but the problem is still there, maybe getting worse! There is a definate problem somewhere as it wasn't always like this!
I'm also concerned that the unburnt fuel passing through an expensive race cat during the churning, is doing no good at all to the core?

JohnD

PS Do those with a problem, use V-Power? I've just put a drop of Tesco 99 in, to see if there's any difference at all.

 

No John , I use Tesco or BP Ultimate

Dave

 

Could it just be that the Impreza starter motor is pretty feeble??

 

This happens on my 03 STi as well. Took it out for a spin on Saturday left it parked in the car park at work in the sun for 6 hours, and low and behold wouldn't start properly when I came back to go home. And yes I turn the key and let the fuel pump do it's job first. Not the first time this has happened. Mentioned it to the subaru garage and they cleaned a few sensors for me and nothing showed up on the diag computer. After the clean it was fine for a bit but then started again.

 

Decided to give the crank pos. sensor a clean (again!) and while it was out checked that it was magnetic and also connected a multimeter across the terminals to check resistance of the coil (don't know what it is supposed to be, but was around 2k ohms) I then set to volts and got a small flicker as I passed a screwdriver close to the metal case end. So, it's working at least! Put it back in after spraying the terminals with switch cleaner. I also re-set the ECU via the PSi3 Hey Presto! instant cold start. Just got to see if it was just coincidence!
JohnD

 

Sorry to sound dumb John, but what's the PSi3 ?Is this reset something I can do without messing up the Prodrive map etc . I remember from my classic resetting the ECU once , but can't remember the details of it

cheers
Dave

 

The PSi3 is a cute dash mounted device that displays lots of ECU information. eg air/fuel ratio, ign.timing, air flow rate, injector duration and loads more! You can also read fault codes and re-set.
You can re-set the ECU by way of connecting certain plugs under the dash or by disconnecting the battery for a while. You will not compromise the PPP or any other map. The ECU will revert to the base map (PPP in your case?) then begin to re-learn fuelling and timing as you drive. Might be worth giving it a try.

JohnD

 

Thanks for that , looks like I'll start off by giving it a good clean up then if no joy I'll have a go at disconnecting the battery for a while , and then annoy the hell out of the neighbours when I reconnect it and the alarm goes wild

Dave

 

Update , since we've had a week of colder weather , its started fine , so it looks like it's the heat doing it , will wait for the next hot day (if we get another one ), to see what happens

 

I don’t know if this applies to Newage.

My Classic 95 WRX wouldn’t start when the engine was warm/hot but started fine when cold. I was advised, from searching on here, it could be either Crank sensor or Cam sensor, apparently its a common fault. Took it to Scoobyclinic...Kev checked it out, and confirmed it was the crank sensor. New second hand one fitted in about 5 minutes and never had a problem since.

If I remember right, Kev plugged some gadget in under the driver side dash which identified the crank sensor error code.

 

anyone checked the fuel pump?

 

mine don,t like starting from cold anymoore 02sti and it seems to of got worse since fitting a walbro pump, don,t know if theres any connection or just coincidence?