2005 tC starting problem
 

Hi - just joined found your forum the other day. Just got 05 tC last week. Ran great. Noticed wheel bearing going bad, notified dealer of it Monday. They scheduled it to be replaced yesterday.

yesterday when i picked it up. mechanic was like, overall the car is good, it does need air filter replaced (why under hood is my question to replace wheel bearing). when i went to leave, it took it a second of cranking to start. no further problems on 60 mile drive home.

this morning, didn't want to start, took maybe 5 minutes to finally start. no further problems on way to work (60 miles).

at lunch, took maybe 15 minutes to start, then fine.

after work, 2 hours and multiple jumps to start, ran with cruise at 80mph for the 60 mile commute, no hiccups, no lags, bog downs or any indicator of any issue.

stopped and topped tank (approx 1/4 remaining) with 91 and injector cleaner.

came home, immediately after parking tried to restart, same problem.

I found the fix on these forums : reset ecu, move tps, reconnect battery. no change.

disconnecting maf, i did get it to start 1 time but threw check engine light (first time has happened). then problem has happened again.

i have just redone the previous forum advice resetting and have about 10 minutes before reconnecting negative battery terminal.

any thoughts, advice ?

how many miles? whens the last time you changed the air filter? any cel codes?

100k. I only picked the car up last week from dealer. It had flush/fill of fluids and tune up at that time (so I was told). Have reconnected the battery, has started without issue 3x so far with MAF connected. Also not showing any CEL.

it may be your battery, spark plugs, wires. but if they tuned it up, they should have done the plugs and inspected everything though, but who knows. try using a different battery, because more likely it would be the battery. considering once it starts, it will run for a period of time.

it definately doesnt sound like a motor problem, and especially if it only is at 100k, these motors will last a very long time. its sounds external engine....something small and stupid

dunno - knock on wood, it hasn't repeated since reconnecting battery.

battery - don't think so, has good cranking, charger/tester is showing it's good.

Air cleaner is iffy, can see through it but dirty (not replaced by dealer).

plugs/wires - I drive fairly aggressive so if plugs/wires would imagine would notice. during drive home tonight had cruise set at 82 and it didn't hiccup or anything plus no check engine.

bad gas? maybe, i added 10 gallons of 91 and injector cleaner. Maybe it's mixed and sediment settled in tank? would think it would ping or have other issues while driving though.

just saw you are in chicago - i'm moving to lincolnshire area in a few weeks.

if you want, i live 3 miles west of joliet, bring it by and we can take a look at it. or i can meet you somewhere if you cant make it our here

you may also have a leak somewhere that keeps tweaking it. I had that problem and it turned out to be a simple hose that slipped a bit. I moved it back to its correct position and re clamped it and its been good ever since.

thats cool. atm, i live bout 200 miles away. moving there for a new job. if it gives any more grief gonna call the dealer and have him take it in, it does have a warranty on it still. Once this problem cleared up, hoping to start doing some mods.

psturm - ya and who knows what got messed with by the mechanic when changing the bearing.

oh well if its under warranty, let the stealership deal with it!

and if your ever in the area, let me know! i got 2 tc's that are both modded to hell, and your welcome to come hang with our group of scion owners!

definitely will look ya up. I have about a grand of easy bolt ons that I have already planned out.

update
 

problem is back. have drained the battery trying to get it started again this morning.

I'm stumped. Any thoughts or ideas ?

Stop putting that crap "injector cleaner" in your tank.

I know, i don't normally use the crap but since dont know history of car, and thought of maybe bad gas....

tried swapping out the battery with a known good one this morning. Nothing changed. One thing that I have seen, there is no difference in how car acts when it starts and when it doesn't.

Can you describe the problem in more detail. Does it crank ? Do you turn the key and it does nothing ? Does it make a "click" sound when the key turns but no crank ?

Need more detailed info.

when turn key, goes through guage test, etc, i hear fuel pump kick on, cranks as if going to start but nothing.

When it starts, runs great with no problems or CEL. shut it off and it won't start again.

Might help
http://www.aa1car.com/library/us1296.htm