had it towed to dealer after it wouldn't start. they first told me the starter was busted. had that fixed. then they said i should probably replace my battery. It's over 6 yrs old so i did that.

went to collect my car and it still didn't start. pissed. they said they tested the day before and it started. it sat outside for the night in maybe -8C weather.

now they're telling me it's low compression due to timing chain stretch/skipping. WTF? what are my options here? is this possible that all these things were issues or did they misdiagnose and made me pay for repairs i didn't need? non modded 2008 evo x mr.

sounds like misdiagnosis to me..

those are two wildly different diagnosis.


I'd question their ability to repair the car.
-asher

Had my timing chain stretch - it was most common on 08-10 evos. Covered under warranty.

You could hear the starter trying to kick the flywheel, but it would actually crank and start because the chain was stretched. If it was starter or battery it likely wouldnt even try to turn over. But a starter/battery and timing chain are wildly different, I'd get those bums to pay for those parts at least.

damn, sounds like the dealer didn't know what they were doing. would cold temperatures affect timing chain stretch in any way that it wouldn't start?

Does the engine turn over? If so, I had that happen. It was bad gas. Floor the gas pedal next time you try to start. This puts the ECU into a mode where it shuts off the injectors to let the engine clear itself. It must be pushed 100% to the floor though. This fixed my issue.

It certainly does not do that. All it does is allow more air in to help the engine burn/get rid of the extra fuel in the cylinders.

where did you hear that?

I know that. I didn't simply hear it. The same "trick" is applied to just about any high performance car with aftermarket injectors that may not be tuned perfectly for start up. Opening the throttle simply lets more air in. It does not change what ECU is doing with fueling for start up.

And its drive by wire it wont even open the throttle to wot. And as letsgetthisdone said it doesnt control injectors. This isnt a holley quadrajet.

What kind of no start is it?

Maybe on the old cars. With drive by wire, this is no longer the case. The ECU reads your gas pedal sensor and goes to a few tables (and case checks) to decide what to do with the actual throttle blade. 100% throttle triggers a special mode in the ECU. I doubt it actually opens the throttle all the way, but it might.

OP, have you tried this? When you try to start, what noises do you hear?

Idk for sure what it does with the throttle plate, but I can assure you the fuel injectors fire, other wise the car wouldn't start while doing this..

can this happen with low gas? it's happened many times before...always less than half a tank and cool weather. dealer said they're now getting low compression. mixed with the P0016 code, they've determined it "could" be the chain. could low gas, car parked on a small slope cause these things?

i'm going to try to claw back the starter and battery costs. i told them to fill my car up and try to start again. it's never failed to start on a full tank.

it's worth a shot. Ive never heard of a car just not starting one day due to low compression. Usually that is more gradual (unless something catastrophic happened).

The dealer sounds incompetent. I don't know why they would suggest a starter or battery if the car cranks alright. You might think about having it taken somewhere else.

Symptoms of a timing chain: car turns over but won't fire up.

Symtoms of a bad battery or starter: when you turn the key, not much happens. Car won't crank. Lights go dim or off when trying to start.

A car needs air, fuel, compression, and ignition to start. This assumes you are able to crank.

You can teat the battery by jump starting your car.

It happens if you start the car and don't let it fully warm up. It runs so rich at startup that if you shut it off before it leans out, it leaves a ton of gas in the engine which makes it very difficult to start the next time. As someone else said, you have the hold the gas pedal to the floor and crank it for several minutes (resting every so often so you don't burn up the starter). You'll be able to hear it getting closer to starting every time, and eventually it'll start and run really rough and blow a whole bunch of smoke.