Sternrulez

great...thanks for the info...AGAIN! We'll start on getting the parts this weekend, so I'll let you know what happens...

What, you mean you're not going to fly in from Hawaii to help us? LMAO!!! Sorry, I should have clarified the 2 different starting situations...the first one is when it tries to crank over but has a really tough time of it. In yesterday's case, you don't even get a clicking noise when you turn the key...it's like the battery is totally dead, even though the other electrical devices work in the car. Perhaps I need multiple items to fix the problems? Thanks for the info! OH, I don't mean to doubt anyone here, but in my first post I mentioned that I read the ignition coil could cause it to not start...I say that because in most cases when the "battery dead" issue happens, the car has been run for some time, and it usually happens when it's warmer outside...again, going back to what I read, if the coil overheats, it will shut down and prevent the car from starting. No one has mentioned anything about this yet, so I was just wondering if that's something we should consider or not...thanks!

We live in Hudson PA...near Wilkes-Barre and about a half hour south of Scranton. That would be AWESOME if we could find someone to do it cheaply for us...THANK YOU!

Thanks for the info, Mike! Actually, we were thinking of going down to only 1 car, so it's more an issue of repairs/insurance vs having an extra car, but no matter. Any idea how hard it would be to replace the temp sensor? If they have to tear major sections of the car out to get to it, the labor will be what kills us...lol!

We're pretty sure that it was sometime in 2009. I know for a fact that we haven't put 60K miles on it since they were, which is what I read is the average life of wires.. One thing I forgot to add is that in the past 6 months, we've barely put 1000 miles on the car.

OK, first let me state that I have LESS than zero knowledge of car mechanics, so the info that I'm providing is based strictly on the car's behavior and the results of when we hooked it up to "the machine" at the local Advance Auto Parts store: For quite a while now, our 96 Legacy LS has had a very difficult time starting, and must be run for quite a while before we can drive it...otherwise it will hesitate like crazy and more often than not stall completely. The "check engine" light has been on this entire time. We rarely drive the vehicle, as I am disabled and don't drive often at all. Yesterday, we finally got it to Advance Auto for them to check out the codes resulting in the CE light being on, and the following codes were returned: P 0301, P 0302, and P 0115. I'll save any of you kind enough to reply to this the trouble of telling me what they are: I looked them up and found out that they are misfiring of plugs 1 and 2, as well as a engine temp sensor failure. I've also researched the symptoms that we have, and I've found that it's possibly the ignition coil that is bad...OH, I forgot a symptom...occasionally, the car refuses to start (it did yesterday after we left Advance Auto) as if the battery were dead. We put a new battery in last year, so I doubt that is the issue. Once the battery is jumped however, the car starts. I say this because I read somewhere that the ignition coil could overheat and shut down which would ALSO cause the car to refuse to start. We don't have a lot of cash to pour into this car, so my wife and I need to find the cheapest solution possible to get it running at least halfway normally again. If it's TOO expensive, we'll probably end up selling it...we're really on the fence about keeping it, as we're paying more car insurance on this car every month than we are on our 2008 Caliber, and since it's barely used we need to make some hard decisions soon....keep it or let it go. Thank you in advance for any help and insight you can provide for us!