Legacy 3.0 starting issue.

[Starlite]

Hello I have a legacy 3.0 2007 and having some starting problems

When start the engine when cold it's all ok

But sometimes when starting when warm it don't start on all cylinders.

After a blink of an eye the rest cylinders starts.

It's like the engine don't get enough fuel or maybe to much?

I don't know , have any of you any ideas?

Edited July 6, 2014 by Starlite

[1 Lucky Texan]

one difficulty is the differences from US vs non US models, but, next time the car is warm and you expect to experience a problem, hold the accelerator pedal to the floor (completely depressed) - that signals the ECU to withold fuel. If the car is 'flooded', mayy start more smoothly.

 

Then , we proceed to check for flooding causes; leaky injector or bad Engine Temp Sensor or?

 

If the problem is worse with the pedal down test - we might expect a low fuel pressure problem and proceed from there.

 

If it seems the same, perhaps there is a spark or air problem ?

 

I know the above seems vague, and the 'differences' you will be trying to detect could be subtle - but, it's just an idea.

 

Also, scanning the ECU for 'pending' codes might help find a system that is having a slight problem.

Edited July 7, 2014 by 1 Lucky Texan

[idosubaru]

1. how many miles?

2. any recent engine or major work done in the past year or so?

 

read codes with OBD scanner - there may be pending codes.

 

check fuel pressure when it's ***not*** starting. 

if it's low fuel pressure/volume - then you can also do the ghetto test and pull the fuel line and notice very little fuel coming out.

 

in this case the fuel pump cap has cracked tabs and the oring is pushing out.  you need a new fuel pump cap and oring.

[Fairtax4me]

I think the fuel pump cap issue was resolved around 2005 when they switched to the plastic canister style fuel sender unit. I'm not sure when they changed this on non US models, but I would think this wouldn't be a problem on an 07.

 

Is this something that happens every day? Or only once in a while?

[Starlite]

1. Almost 13500 km

2. No work done on the engine.

 

This happens evry day.

Like today when the engine was hot and I turn the key, it started immediately

Other days i need to crank the engine some seconds till it starts

 

The thing is last time I have it on service the guy who changed the airfilter did not close it well.

The engine like miss fired the whole winter because it came in snow in the engine.

Noticed it and closed the airfilterhouse and the twitch and misfire disappear.

[1 Lucky Texan]

you could also try cycling the key to ON, wait 8 seconds, then to OFF, then repeat 3-4 times before STARTing the car. If there is low fuel pressure, this will cycle the fuel pump several times before the fuel is needed to start the car. If the issue is a leaky injector or poor fuel delivery, this could 'overiride'/mask the failure to allow a normal start.

[Cougar]

Another thing you could try doing when the trouble happens is to spray a small amount of starter fluid into the intake to see if that changes things. If that fires the engine then it would seem to be a fuel issue and not an ignition problem.