Engine

Intermittant Starting

Intermittant Starting

> I have a 1982 that is giving me fits. It will run like a champ for a day, a
> couple of days, a week. Then it will not start. I will let it sit for a few
> hours and it may then start. I has taken as long as a few days before it will
> fire up. It turns over with out a problem.

Dale,

Replace the electrical part of your ignition switch. I replaced the one in my '83 two weeks ago and cured a difficult start problem that had started out happening once every two weeks but had progressed to occurring almost daily. Symptoms were almost identical to your's except that I was always able to get the car to start within an hour or so instead of the few days you sometimes experience. Many thanks to the members of this list that pointed me in the right direction when I described the symptoms.

Try this test when the car won't start: remove the #1 spark plug and then place the plug back in the plug wire; ground the plug (via the threaded area) to the car body (e.g. wedge it between the strut bar and the air intake hose) and notice whether you have a spark while cranking. I'll bet you don't. If you leave the plug like that and continue to crank it a few more times (remembering to allow the starter to cool as needed), I'll bet you'll eventually get a spark and the car will start. That's what happened with my car and once I replaced the ignition switch, I got a spark the first time every time. NOTE: I'd be very hesitant to ever try this test on an LH-Jetronic car for fear of frying the brains!

The electrical part of the switch is ~$30 and took me 2.5hrs to install since it was my first time into the pod. I could probably do it again in just over an hour.

One other area to check is Temp Sensor II. Make sure it gives the proper resistance values at various temperatures and that the wiring harness to the lead is in good shape. BTDT on that one too.

Good luck.
--
Jim Stadter
'83 928 S 5-speed (U.S. spec)
'88 928 S4 5-speed

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