Im confused now Options

[turnaround89]

After many repairs, my car finally made it on its first long voyage. The drive was over 2 hours long, and the car did great. However, when i first got my car it would not start after you turned it off. First repair was a new battery, fixed it for awhile, then the fuel pump went. Fixed that with some new wires, and the old fuel pump works perfectly. Car still doesn't start, found out the battery i got was bad, got a new one, and the car starts to run again. After this i take it out and have to have it towed home because the alternator wire broke off the starter, replaced that and the car starts up. At this point everything is running perfectly, so i took the car out yesterday for the long drive that was over 2 hours, get home and my mom parked right in the middle of our driveway, so i can't get the car into the garage. Go in to get the keys for her car and move the thing(don't understand why you park in the middle of a freakin' driveway, but thats besides the point).

I move her car, and get back into the 914 which won't start. I can turn the key and here the starter cranking the engine but it won't fire. Every now and then while trying to start the car it would give a little hint it was about to start but would not turn over. Finally, i decide to let the car sit for awhile while i go vote and run to the atm. The car sat for maybe an hour or two. Get back try to start the car again and it does the same thing, starter cranks and it would hint at starting. I waited for one of the little hiccups the engine would do, like it wanted to start, when it did that i gave it some gas and it turned over for just a little bit. After this, i try to start it again and it fires right up like nothing was wrong.

Whats going on?

The engine is a 1.8L single carbed engine. Could i be running the car to lean or rich and it just won't fire after a long drive?

Thanks everybody.

I just want to be able to drive my car, shut it off, and not worry about it not turning on again!!!

[jd74914]

On the subject of the coil, I've never heard of something like that on a 914. The car we had that problem on had a really old coil that was getting hot to the touch when running.


Like Rand said, it probably is a spark related issue that surfaces with heat. Everywhere he suggested is a likely culprit

On the subject of heat soak, remember that resistance for pure metals increases with temperature, so if you have a poor ground it will get worse as it heats up. The increasing resistance essentially robs power (and dissipates it) from the device that needs it.

It seems like 99% of problems on cars are grounds, so it might be worth it to check yours.