Why is my car all of the sudden getting harder to start?

[overkill]

Its weird, After I changed the engine oil, plugs, and cam chain tensioner my car has been harder to start. I mean I have to make several attempts to start the engine! But,..... When the engine is running,.... it never sounded so GOOD! It idles almost perfectly! I am so impressed with it! The only thing is that the car is so much harder to start! Why is that? Could it be the Bosch +4 plugs? That is the only thing that nakes sence to me. My friend said it might be the battery? He said the car is needs alot of power to start? That is true? I dont think my battery is bad? I dont know. I am at work right now, so I think I'll try the old plugs again. I mean there was nothing wrong with the old plugs. You guyz think there might be somthing wrong inside the engine? Somthing that happens with synthetic oil? I dont know! Thanks for your help!

[Makis]

Changing oil should improve starting. Synthetic oil is better.
Changing plugs should improve starting. Bosch +4 are not a problem unless you had a ignition problem and by changing to Bosch +4 it just revealed it.
Changing the cam chain tensioner can be your problem. This is because whoever did it had to remove the camshafts and then put them back again. Assembling the engine back may have gone wrong somewhere. Check it out and best of luck

[Eturbo924]

This might not be the issue but I bet it is. Replace the DME relay. Failure begins this way. Car becomes harder and harder to start until one day it will turn over all day long but not start.

The relay is cheap $20 from most places. I bet pelican can get you one. So get one... pop it in and I bet you are good to go.

Eric

[Z-man]

Overkill:
Did you replace the distributor cap and wires too? Take the cap off and look inside: if you see black scorching marks, you're probably due for a new set of wires and a distributor cap. Just my guess.

-Z.

[overkill]

Ok, first on the 944S you do not have to remove the cam shafts so thats not the problem. Umm, I did not replace the plug wires or distributor cap. I will lok into that. What Ill do is get regular plugs for the car, not the +4 Bosch. See if that helps, which I think it will. The DME realy? I'll look into that too. What exactly does that do? I mean does that DME relay just die or does it kinda fade off till death? I guess the engine will be hard to start if it is worn out? Well, I guess ill just replace it. Thanks for your input guyz!

[Makis]

OK, I think the confusion was that you changed the cam belt tensioner and not the cam chain tensioner. And yes for that you do not have to remove the cams.

[Eturbo924]

The DME relay runs the DME which runs the fuel pump. This relay overheats over time and begins to create high resistance and the higher it gets the more heat it generates and the higher the resistnace.. on an on until it fails.

Most of the time when you begin having starting problems like you describe this is the issue. You can pull the relay and look at the terminals. If they are showing signs of overheating it is a good indication that it is about to strand you some where. Over heating terminals begin to change colors... not the clean silver but more blue and such colors.

Oh and yes they usually begin to fade out normally not just fail... but people do not recognize the symptoms.

Good luck

Eric

[lordgrommit]

when it happened to me on my Turbo it was the Fuel pump packed it in.. If it's only when you start I'd say DME.. if you have a stumble or it' stalls anytime.. I'd look at the pump

Matt

[overkill]

Ok, ill change the DME relay. I'll do the plugs, wires, and DIS CAP. About the fuel pump? If it is so called packed,... or slightly packed would that lead to erratic idling? Just curious, my car runs extremly smooth now but is not absolutly perfect though.

[drew1]

overkill,

If the car runs good at high speed, I don't think it would be the pump. A pump problem with starting is when you try to start a few minutes after cutting off. If the check valve leaks, you won't hold fuel in the lines & the injectors are opening for a short time with coolant temp sensor sending "warm" to DME. You won't have enough gas to start.

drew1

[overkill]

Ok, I dont tink it's the DME relay. I just got done swapping my mine out with my friends DME relay. It still had trouble starting. He said it sounded like a firing problem. If it was a firing problem would the car even start? Well, I didnt get a chance to to do the plugs or check the DIS CAP. He said that if I saw any carbon left over, that I could lightly sand it off temporarily until I get the new one. Also, How would i know if the plug wires are bad? They are like $167 for the "S"!

[Z-man]

Overkill:
If your wires are original, then you're due for a new set. They aren't cheap, but you'll see a difference in your car's performance.

-Z.

PS: Are you going to the April 21st autocross at Englishtown? It's put on by PCA - NNJR, but you don't need to be a member...

[wolfrpi]

Sounds like a cracked head. The S's frequently do this right before they are about to self-destruct. Ask me how I know.

[wolfrpi]

Just kidding - its been a slow morning.

[sprewell17]

where is the dme rlay located? Is it just in the fuse box?

[Eturbo924]

It is in the box that is inside the engine bay... well just under the windshield not quite in the engine bay.

Eric

[overkill]

Wolfrpi, you are not funny man

[overkill]

Ok, today is the day i check my plugs and DIS CAP. Although im not going to replace them right now, im just going to check them and maybe clean them up a little. I also noticed this the other day. When I first filled the car up with oil, I filled it up to the the top bar on the dip stick. I figured that the oil filter was empty and the system was drained it would settle around .75 on the dip stick. Well i checked the dip stick and its like half way on the dip stick. What is this trying to tell me? I checked for anyother leaks on the engine and I couldnt see any others besides the one that I do know about. The one that I do know about is not leaking anymore then it was before. Whats going on here? I read in other posts that cars some "eat" oil? Where does it go? The engine doesnt burn it up does it? I dont think it does, but what do I know What do you think? As soon as I get some extra cash I'm going to replace the plug wires and dis cap.

[xero]

you could have a mildy leaking head gasket?
my honda was really hard to start when that was going on

check for water in your exaust, check for slime in your coolant system and check for muddy stuff in your oil you will usually lose oil and water when this is happening

basically some water from the coolant systen gets into your cylanders while the engine is sittling and then you try to start it up and your plugs ar all fould with water and it takes some cranking before you get good spark

also get a compression check, it's cheap and easy

[overkill]

Ok, how do I do a compression check? You know Ithink the leak I am aware of might be coming from the head gasket! We'll see.