i have an 05 RA with 60000 mi on it and it is having alot of trouble starting almost as is if was not gettin any fuel to it and in fact it was not. i had to pull the boot of the intake and spray it full of starting fluid before it started to actually idle on its own. i took it to a shop and the mechanic actually drove it for 3 days and it did not give him a single problem, but as soon as i got it did not start. i know it is not the battery cause i it would turn over with no problem.

Please help

 

Engines can become really dependent on starting fluids and sprays etc.

If it worked for the mechanic and not for you... might just be personal, she doesn't like you bro.... okay kidding.

Is your air filter clean? are your plugs in good condition? Ever had your fuel injectors cleaned out?

 

ya i figured she is mad at me but i have been taken care of her, i put new plugs when i hit 55thousand, i clean my filter about once a month, and i dunno if this counts for cleaning the injectors but i ran the lucas fuel line and injector cleaner through it???

 

fuel pump maybe? trying to start on flat ground or engine up slope?

 

what kind of plugs did you replace the oem ones with? what kind of filter do you have that you clean it once a month? have you done any modification to the ECU or spliced into any sensors in the engine bay?

sounds more like it's not getting any spark, which can be caused by quite a few things. First and foremost I bet your plugs are done for, new or not. the car doesn't like anything but OEM plugs, no matter what the quality may be. because the car will still run I would start there, running and starting are two different beasts.

If the plugs look fine you need to answer the other questions, because it won't start without key sensors working properly.

 

the OEM plugs are by NGK - which is very cool, not much need to get different ones

 

ok, i finally took it to the dealer and they said it was the fuel pump, but the mechanic started lecturing me about how horrible starting fluid is for the unleaded engine. i was wondering if there was any truth behind it; he said, "i could have destroyed my engine." but i kinda have a feeling that they are just trying to rip me off more then they already have. they are charging me 725 to replace the pump.
is there any way an ecu with a computer connection capability to give me advance warning of things going wrong??

 

Starter fluid isn't good for your engine, but it has nothing to do with being run on unleaded fuel. It's more of similar risks to running nitrous - pooling for fluid, backfiring into the IM, building up harmful deposits, etc. Also, the ECU won't tell you about anything wrong until it decides to set off the CEL.

As for the fuel pump, you're getting ripped off in a big way. List price for the pump is $344 and it only takes 30 minutes to install, if you move at sloth-speed.

 

i have looked around for a bit for a similar problem that have had and i didnt seem to find anything similar. So, i guess my question is how often does this happen, and i was getting 20mpg not driving it hard was that a red flag something was going wrong?

 

Especially considering there is access to it under the rear seat. Some cars need to have the tank dropped...so stupid.