So the car is 98 hatch with a 01 b18c1 and turbo setup tuned by a very reputable tuner. I went on a two month trip and when I got back my car battery was dead. I charged it, but ever since I got back it has been acting a little funny.

As I first sit down to try and start it, it struggles like it would with a dead battery. After a few tries, it starts but then immediately dies. I have to give it gas for a good 10 seconds while it struggles to stay alive. Once that time passes, it idles and runs fine. I haven't driven the car longer than just a few quick drives, but it seems to almost die every once in a while when the engine is still cold...i haven't been able to determine whether it does this while it is warm as well...but it seems like it doesn't.

My first thought is the battery, but I don't think the battery could explain the dying after it has been started.

My next thought is the spark plugs?

I haven't had much experience with diagnosing starting/running problems...anyone who has experience please chime in.

 

I have a b18c1 in my 95 eg. I have been having the same problem. When I go to start my car in the monring or after work and the car has been sitting for 8+ hours, it will not start or stay idling without giving it gas. Beside that, it seems to take forever for the car to warm up. I live in socal and the weather is never really super cold so I was wondering what could be wrong. I did change the battery, just bc it was really old and I left my fog lights on all night and killed it. I recently changed the dizzy, cap, rotor, plugs, and wires, and the problem has gotten a lot better. The car starts without giving it gas, and seems to idle pretty well for the most part too. I would go with dizzy, plugs, and wires first. Not too expensive and never hurts to change those things out. Let me know how it goes

 

Thanks for the reply man. The dizzy and cap are pretty new. The plugs and wires could use a change, I suppose. I'll try that out. Money is tight, so I don't really want to throw it around without knowing things for sure.

 

(Title and first post edited to repair word filter error.)

I would start by having the battery tested. It may not be able to hold a full charge.

 

Thank Ron. I have a spare battery that I'm charging and going to test out. I'll see how that goes.

 

Update:

Switched the battery out: no change in the way it starts up.

Checked all the spark plugs: they are all black with wet fuel on them -- this was after me attempting to start it multiple times

I am almost positive it is only doing this on a cold startup. If I go to the store, for example, it will start up like this when I leave my house, but when I start it up after being in the store, it'll start up fine.

Could the fact that the outside temperature is so much colder than it was a few months ago account for something like this? In other words, could the spark plugs be having issues with the temperature? They are iridiums, but I can't remember brand or model.

The plugs could use a change, so I will probably just try that regardless...and the wires could use a change too...but can anyone tell me if a dizzy/cap/rotor could be causing any of this? I don't want to change all that out when I'm low on cash if it's not necessary.

 

BUMP!
It is doing this every cold startup and even stalled in an intersection a few minutes ago (when it was warmed already).

 

Here are a few other items to check:

-Clean and tighten the battery connectors, as well as the negative ground wire attached to the frame.

-Do the same for the starter connections, and the G3 transmission and G101 thermostat housing ground wires.

-Compression test the cylinders.

 

Yeah, the grounds were on my list. I mean I haven't altered any of the wires...but it does seem very close to a ground issue. Thanks for the ideas. I'll check them out.

 

UPDATES:

-Put in bkr7e spark plugs gapped at .030 and they had no effect.

-battery connectors and wires are fine

-grounds are fine

-different ecu has no effect

-vacuum lines are visually fine


Refined description of problem:

The car is very difficult to start after sitting and cold. It will take around 4-5 sessions of holding down a key-turn and giving gas to help it from dying. Stepping on the pedal to give it gas is not entirely effecting the startup, however. During those 4-5 sessions, if the engine wants to die, it pretty much dies with the gas not effecting the outcome. After that 5th session, the car hesitates (gas is necessary to keep it running) and then it will even out and idle fine. Once the engine is warm, you can turn it off and restart it with no problems at all. It also runs perfectly fine and has no power or response issues while driving.

The fact that it runs fine after it is warm leads me to logically rule out the following:
timing being off, compression/engine being damaged, and probably more.

I don't have the money to simply be swapping out parts left and right..I need to figure out what is actually wrong and replace only that part. I really hope someone can help me with this.

Current speculations:

-I will change out the main relay because I have a spare one

-possible fuel clog issue? fuel filter needs replacement?


**also if it is helpful, keep in mind that the car was sitting for about 2 months, the battery died, and then when I first came back to start it again, these problems started**

 

-Any CEL codes? Does the CEL work?

-Does your engine have an FITV? If so, try cleaning and adjusting it. Also clean the IACV.

-When the engine is cold (when struggles to start and run), check the color of spark at the plugs and compare it to when the engine is warm (when runs and starts fine). Under these two conditions, also compare the resistance of across the two terminals of the ECT sensor.

 

-CEL works and there are no codes

-Not sure about the FITV, it's a stock B18C1 2001

-How do I check resistance across the terminals of the ECT sensor?

 

Unplug the connector and measure the resistance (Ohms) across the 2 terminals of the sensor (not connector). Do this with the engine cold and hot to compare the readings.

The FITV is usually attached to the bottom of the throttle body. It has two coolant hoses attached to it.

 

Big updates coming tonight. Did a LOT of troubleshooting and recorded some videos. Still no luck.

 

Refined description of problem:
After sitting for two months, the engine has incredible difficulty starting up and staying running. It may startup instantly, but it dies immediately thereafter. It takes multiple cranks and startups and stalls before it can finally stay idling. Once the engine is warmed this way, the engine can be turned off and on without a problem and it drives without a problem. It does, however, have small issues with stalling while driving. The RPMs will drop really low upon idle and I sometimes have to give it gas to save it.

Things checked:

-battery swapped with another one
-Ecu was swapped with another one
-Main relay was swapped with multiple other ones
-Transmission and VC grounds were removed, cleaned and put back on
-Thermostat housing grounds were visually checked
-Starter connections and battery connections were visually checked, removed, and then put back on.
-Compression test showed a 230 across all cylinders
-IACV was taken out and cleaned--it was very dirty, but still didn't effect anything.
-I don't believe to have a FITV. The engine is a 2001 GSR and I read that they stopped putting FITV's on after 97 or something like that.
-All spark plugs were changed to new ones
-spark plug wires were swapped with different ones--no effect.
-There is spark in each cylinder--i tried to determine the color...but my untrained eye couldn't discern a color. They seemed to be whitish/orangish maybe? This was on a cold startup.
-disconnected fuel line where it connects to engine bay fuel filter and turned the car on II. Fuel did flood out of the filter.
-bled the radiator for bubbles and checked coolant level
-I have a slight exhaust leak between the turbo and the downpipe that I have had since day one. I only have 2 of the 4 bolts that should be here because a stud broke. I tightened the 2 bolts here to make the gap between the downpipe and turbo smaller--creating a smaller exhaust leak.

I think that's it..I am almost entirely out of ideas. The only thing I can think of is that the turbo is somehow jammed up and so it is making it difficult for the exhaust gases to flow and therefore creating a hard startup. I don't even know if this is possible or if it makes sense...but I can't think of anything else.

Here are a bunch of videos documenting every angle of the problem:

This is the initial startup issue:
http://www.youtube.com/v/ps6ohZg6Zdc?fs=1&hl=en_US

http://www.youtube.com/v/QeGatvK_gGA?fs=1&hl=en_US

This is the process I have to go through to get it to run and eventually idle on it's own:

http://www.youtube.com/v/KHIBuINus2c?fs=1&hl=en_US

http://www.youtube.com/v/WIT5qvxTnjo?fs=1&hl=en_US

After going through the above process, it will eventually run fine...but it still seems to have an idling issue that I didn't notice prior to today's troubleshooting. It seems possible that something I did today may have made the idle issue even worse?

http://www.youtube.com/v/reY44KLRd2Y?fs=1&hl=en_US

http://www.youtube.com/v/kWFRQ7oLv_w?fs=1&hl=en_US

I hope someone can help me out here..

 

Spark at the plugs should be bright white without any tinge of orange. You may want to test the coil.

 

Like I said, it is such a quick instant and I'm not really sure what shades to be looking for. So I could be completely wrong about that. But I will definitely check the coil. Is this fairly simple?

 

Coil tested fine by me AND Autozone. But I read a lot of people saying that their coil was bad even when it passed the ohms test. That doesn't really help me narrow things down.

BUMP BUMP BUMP!!

 

BUMP! Someone help me out. Other than just throwing money at the car...I am stumped. And I really don't have the cash to be doing that, anyways.

 

Just replaced coil with another used coil and no dice. It is possible that both coils are bad, however, very unlikely.

 

I had this issue on a few cars before. took me awhile to figure it out but it was the IDLE STOP SCREW on the throttle body that was causing this problem. when this screw wares down it allows the throttle to close more then it should, also explain why you gotta hit the gas pedal to start it and when you let it want to stall. Hope this helps ya.

 

I don't know if that is the problem, because in my case giving it gas doesn't seem to be very responsive. I can give it gas, and the car will still die. I will still check out the screw though, I'm completely out of ideas at this point.
Thanks.

 

sounds like you put shitty gas in ur car and leting it sit over time got even worse

 

i was thinkin the same....... gas

 

It was empty when it sat. I filled it up with the same gas I always get. 91 from costco. Is bad gas really that common? I've never even heard of someone I know getting bad gas.