Starting problems (sometimes)

i've got a couple ideas but you guys are smarter than me so i thought i would ask before i started spending money.

sometimes when i get in my car to go to work it takes a little time to start. it is turning over and the starter is working but it sounds like i am not getting any spark. when this happens my radio resets itself as if i had disconnected the battery all night. this doesn't happen every time i start it, just in the morning and seems like only cold mornings
where should i look first in your opinon?

thanks in advance,
wes

Sounds like a dying battery. Have you put a trickle charger on it? If it's still an OEM style AGM Battery a long term trickle charge may bring it back around!

The Miata Battery!

Try cranking over maybe 3-4 times to build up fuel pressure, stop and wait a second and retry. For some reason on a few cars that had bigger fuel pumps the fuel pressure seems to drop off after it has sat for a while. There is probably a switch that tells the ECU to not fire up until fuel is up to pressure. Not a problem, just inconvenient.

Let me know if this works for you.

Gary

i don't understand how the battery could be dying if it has enough power to rotate the starter motor for 30 seconds straigt but not enough to power a spark plug or two or four

it does seem to correlate with how long it has been since it was started last, so the fuel pump thing sounds plausible but i don't have a larger fuel pump. the car is all stock. do you think my stock fuel pump is going out?

Will the car jump start? That would be an indicator one way or the other.

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Originally Posted by Master357

i don't understand how the battery could be dying if it has enough power to rotate the starter motor for 30 seconds straigt but not enough to power a spark plug or two or four?

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This is what was making me think Battery.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Master357

when this happens my radio resets itself as if i had disconnected the battery all night. this doesn't happen every time i start it, just in the morning and seems like only cold mornings

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Do you have a voltmeter?

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Originally Posted by POS Racing

This is what was making me think Battery. Do you have a voltmeter?

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good point. and no i don't have a voltmeter. they are cheap i should go get one.

also i've never gotten to the point of trying to jump start. it has always started eventually. it just sounds like it's not going to happen and then it does. the motor just sits there rotating at about a rev\second then it seems to get spark and it starts. no clicking noises or nasty grinding noises and it doesn't just sit there like the battery is dead. so it doesn't make me think it is the starter or alternator or battery.

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Originally Posted by shuhart1

Try cranking over maybe 3-4 times to build up fuel pressure, stop and wait a second and retry. For some reason on a few cars that had bigger fuel pumps the fuel pressure seems to drop off after it has sat for a while. There is probably a switch that tells the ECU to not fire up until fuel is up to pressure. Not a problem, just inconvenient.

Let me know if this works for you.

Gary

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If that is the case, can he just turn the key on for a few seconds and let the pump catch up before hitting the starter? That's the way electric pumps used to work, but that was back in the day when you had to install an electric fuel pump because NOBODY sold cars with electric pumps. ::OldMan::

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Originally Posted by onething

back in the day when you had to install an electric fuel pump because NOBODY sold cars with electric pumps. ::OldMan::

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http://www.rocketfin.com/mcc/images/flinstone.jpg

what scares me is that looks like you took a picture of a toy you have laying around the house. :)

Have you checked the connections on the battery? My positive wire was loose when I bought my car. Thought I had a dead battery, but when I went to jump it, I realized it was loose, tightened it up and all was well.

Is your battery tied down properly?
Mine was not and i was having intermittent start issues.
Well until the one day there was nothing, luckily i was at my apartment and i pushed the car to my spot, luckily down hill.
I popped the trunk and found out my battery's ground cable had been sheered of by the battery being thrown around the trunk.
I fixed the cable and since then have had no problems.
Good Luck

the cables are tight and the battery has a bungie cord wrapped around it holding it to the side of the trunk.
i think the only reason the radio resets is when i'm trying to start all the power is diverted to the starter motor and under normal circustances this would be only a second and the radio would remember everything but in my case the power is going to the starter motor for several seconds in a row and the radio forgets everything or it could be the radio is a p.o.s. pepboys special and just does that regardless of the starting issue. i don't know because i didn't put that radio there.
i really don't think it's the battery

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Originally Posted by Master357

i really don't think it's the battery

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humor me. try and jump start the freakin' thing! ;)

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Originally Posted by sammm

http://www.rocketfin.com/mcc/images/flinstone.jpg

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watch it or a ::Ladder:: might fall on you from no where ::Rasp::

Clean the Battery posts and the cable connectors. If that doesn't help then do as Sammm said. JUMP IT OFF.......:D

Have you tried the crank, stop and recrank yet?

Gary

the crank, stop and recrank is what kinda usually happens. i usually try to start for a few seconds then turn the key back to run, then try to start for a few then back to run... this morning if it does it i'll just try to start then wait a few seconds in the run postion then try to start again i don't usually wait in between trys