When I hop in the car (89 Reatta) in the morning it won't start right away...it takes me several attempts before it will start.

This is what I do:

1. Turn the key to start but not far enough to get the starter to engage. Wait a few seconds and then turn the key all the way. I do this 3-4 times and car will finally start.

When I leave at lunch (4 hours later) the car starts right up without doing the pause, as described above. I just turn the key and it starts right up.

Any suggestions?

Sounds to me like the check valve at the fuel pump is stuck open and allowing the gas to drain back to the tank over night.

To confirm, check the fuel pressure after turning the key to run (do not start) 1 time first thing in the morning. If the fuel pressure is low after 1 turn and builds after 3 or 4 turns as you describe in your post the check valve is bad.

Ronnie is right...I've experienced that exact problem.....but there is the possibility a leaking injector could cause it too. Dave

Or a going bad magnavox coil pack...

The fuel pressure checked out okay.

Just for grins I took out the air filter, replaced it with a new one that wasn't filthty. Car starts immediately, in fact the car sat for 2 days prior to this. The question would be, why before did it have a hard time starting with a dirty air cleaner after it sat overnight? I would think that the car would have a difficult time starting all of the time with such a clogged filter.

To be honest I was pretty surprised, pleasantly surprised, but surprised that a new air filter made such a difference.

you have a bad fuel pump relay,the car will crank,until the oil presure builds up ,then the over ride relay turns on the fuel pump.I was told that if the car is in a crash the low oil presure when car stalls,turns off fuel pump.The relay turns on the fuel pump,the one on the fire wall,when you first crank,when the oil presure is hi enough that relay turns off,and the one conected to the oil pressure takes over.This is what I was told.Is it true I think so.

I had the same problem and was preparing to change the fuel pump. Had a friend who recommended changing the fuel pump relay first since it cost only $7 and and is much easier to replace (the far left relay on the fire wall when looking under the hood from the front of the car) .

It solved my early moring starting problems! The car starts every time, first crank. After changing it out I remembered that I switched it with the ABS relay when troubleshooting the ABS idot light that would not go out. Switching the relay cured the ABS light problem but appearently created an intermitten fuel problem at start up that took a few weeks to surface.

I'm FOS (medical term). Apparently I got lucky for a few starts, back to the hard starts. Onto the $7 relay!

Thanks guys!

Swap out the replacement relay.It could of failed.

I will give it a shot tonight and report back with the results.

The '89 had a problem with the eprom on first starts/cold starts. I replaced mine with one out of a '90. No problems going forward. I also replaced my relay as well as the Padgett coil upgrade.

Things just can't be easy....

I finally found the relays that you guys are talking about, BUT all of mine are just hanging there. So I can't figure out which one was supposed to be in the "far left position".

There are three choices: the yellow one, the white one or the blue one. These colors reference the connector color that goes into the relay.

Well I know that I have to replace one of them because it is cracked open. My guess is that it is that one.

good guess

It is the only relay that has a green/white stripe wire. This is the wire that provides the on signal to the relay to pull in the contacts that run the fuel pump.

I researched this because I was considering wiring up a momentary push button in parallel with this wire to "prime" the injectors as a temporary fix until I had time to replace the fuel pump assembly. Thank God that the relay fixed my problem I hope it fixes yours.

Also the wire bundle for the fuel pump relay merges with another bundle behind the left side of the engine (when viewing from the front of the car). The other relay bundles are routed closer to the power brake unit.

Good Luck

Well, I went to the parts store and bought my $6 relay. Swapped it out with the fuel injection relay, as indicated by Bill_Boro, and BINGO!!!!! The car started right up. I let the car sit overnight and tried it again...AWESOME!!!...car starts right up!!!

You guys are GREAT!

I will have to buy another relay though, the one that was cracked open actually works! Couldn't have guessed that!

Thank you.

ALL of your suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Truly a priceless forum!