starting problems

[Guest]

<BR>In response to those with hard starts I to have ab unusual situation. My 89 Reatta with 40,000 milees has recently taken two trys before starting. Tsituation was when te temp. was 80 degres or above. now that the temp is in the high 60 & 70 she starts with the first turn. The dealer tells me it is a fuel pump problem but not worth spending the $ at this time. I am a new member and find this forum very intersting.<P>

[Guest Hitzzz]

Harold,<BR>I had the same hard starting problems on my 90 with 48,000. I replaced the coil pak and fuel regulator with no luck. I replaced the fuel pump relay last week and "bingo" ....starts like brand new .... My thoughts are if you had a fuel pump problem you should also have a performance problem ... if you don't go for the fuel pump relay.

[Guest]

I had a recent two try start type scenario and mine was the vacuum hose to the fuel pressure regulator (on the fuel rail). I had also noted some hesitation upon acceleration and odd shift events which also pointed towards a vacuum problem. Just be aware that rubber components like vacuum hoses do deteriorate relative to time and temp. unlike some electronics devices. If you can squeeze the hose and observe cracks, it's worth replacing. I replaced all the hoses with silicon based hoses for less than 10 bucks. Now she starts and runs great.<P>Reatta-on.......

[Guest]

The fuel pump relay is located on your fire wall. It's the one on the end towards the passenger side. If it's good you should hear the fuel pump come on for 3 seconds after you turn on the key. The fuel pump sound will come from the rear of the car.If you don't hear the fuel pump then most likely the relay is bad. The backup system for the fuel pump works off of oil pressure so after turning the engine over for several seconds and the oil pressure gets above 17 lbs. the fuel pump comes on and the car starts. My relay was bad and I had extended canking on cold starts. I have a 89 with 119k miles.<BR>