Lately the EJ-22 in my ’95 legacy sedan has had some issues with restarting after it is warmed up. No issues at all when cold starting. Usually happens on short trips when running errands or at the pump when the car is shut down for 10 minutes or less. If I wait another 10 minutes or so it will fire up like normal with no abnormal exhaust color or other signs of flooding. It’s not throwing any codes and the engine has close to 160, 000 on it. Any ideas?

 

maybe the ignitor ...or a postion sensor cam/crank, or ecu engine temp sensor. This sounds like an electronic component issue. I think that these are the only things that can keep the car from starting. Another thing to check is the fuel pump relay, but i think thats a longshot.

 

The ignitor can drive you nutty. Can you rent a code reader from autozine and use it the next time it happens, it should be able to tell what is not working. The computer wont hold a code if the sensor failes, then starts working again.

 

Can you make it happen, so you can test things in your driveway?

It could be something else but that's the exact same symptoms I had both with the Loyale and the Legacy when the coolant temp sensor failed. The ECU thinks the engine is cold when it's hot and it sends too much gas and floods the engine. Make a search with "coolant temp sensor" here and you'll find lots of info on how to find and replace it.

Meanwhile, you could floor the gas pedal when it refuses to start. On a injection intake this gives more air, not more gas and might help start the car even if the ECU is sending too much gas.

Good luck!

Frag - The coolant sensors were replaced trying to sort out some faulty temp guage reading, so both the sensor for the guage and the ecu are new. I've also tried holding the pedal to the floor as I crank with no luck. I don't believe the car is flooding out.

 

Nip - Unfortunatly I can't reproduce the problem at will. It is happening with more frequency (twice today) which is also unfortunate. I picked up some junk yard crank and cam sensors. After the holidays I will swap them out one at a time and see what happens. Is there any procedue for testing these sensors on or off the car with a DMM?

 

Thanks for the input fellas.

I've got similar issues with my 97Legacy. When warm, the engine cranks and turns over but doesn't start. If I wait a few mins (3 to 15) it will start up normal but it did throw a "Crankshaft Position Sensor Fault" code.

 

Any ideas where it's located and how much to replace it?

Frag - The coolant sensors were replaced trying to sort out some faulty temp guage reading, so both the sensor for the guage and the ecu are new. I've also tried holding the pedal to the floor as I crank with no luck. I don't believe the car is flooding out.

 

Nip - Unfortunatly I can't reproduce the problem at will. It is happening with more frequency (twice today) which is also unfortunate. I picked up some junk yard crank and cam sensors. After the holidays I will swap them out one at a time and see what happens. Is there any procedue for testing these sensors on or off the car with a DMM?

 

Thanks for the input fellas.

 

If you can get yourself a haynes manual, it has a test procedure for it. Unfortunitly i think you have to catch it when it doesnt start to do the test in your case.

 

nipper

Yeah the haynes manual has the testing procedures for it. It is located just above the crank pulley, it is small, black and has 2 wires coming from it.

 

Just a long shot here, but, I noticed when I did my timing belt the crank sensor was corroded and had a heck of a time gettting it out. Maybe the corrosion is screwing things up a little. Might be a long shot but worth a try maybe.

 

 

 

 

Beezer

Lately the EJ-22 in my ’95 legacy sedan has had some issues with restarting after it is warmed up. No issues at all when cold starting. Usually happens on short trips when running errands or at the pump when the car is shut down for 10 minutes or less. If I wait another 10 minutes or so it will fire up like normal with no abnormal exhaust color or other signs of flooding. It’s not throwing any codes and the engine has close to 160, 000 on it. Any ideas?

 

 

Hi,

 

My Legacy (EJ 22 '95) does exactly the same for the last 70.000 kms. I never found out the cause of it.

 

After driving 5-10 minutes and stop the engine, most of the time it won't start anymore, even I floor the gas. When engine is completely cold or really warm, engine starts perfectly.

 

When it won't start anymore, I just wait for 5-10 minutes, then it starts again, as you said.

 

I already changed many components without success, some sensors (O2, knocking sensor, MAF). It never shows an error code when doing so. It has ignition sparks on all plugs while cranking, plugs get not wet (flooded), it has gasoline pressure but still won't start.

 

Please tell me when you'll find your cause, might be the same with my car.

 

Cheers, Inday

My 94 turbo does this about once every couple months. usually after 10-15 minutes driving. Thus far it has been pretty faithful about starting with the pedal floored on the second attempt so I haven't worried about it much. To me it's acting very much like a flooded fuel injected car but a little more regular.

Am I assuming right that the engine is turning over all the times it doesn't want to start?

If you have a muti meter, check the coil pact the next time you have problems.

Update: It's been about a week since I swapped the crank and cam sensors with junkyard replacements. The original cam sensor was damaged. Looks like the last time someone removed the cam pulley they stuck a screwdriver in there and used the sensor for leverage to break the bolt loose. The upside is that I've had no starting issues since the swap out. If the problem doesn't return in the next 3 weeks, I'll swap the original sensors back in one at a time to determine which or if both sensors are the culprit.