When I used to work at pepboys they would always come back like a bad case of herpes. Don't get an Optima.

 

If it is a starter not engaging issue you can push start the car... get some speed up and dump the clutch in 2nd gear.

 

def +1 on the new battery had similar issues before replacing.

 

Greddy TT

 

I doubt that the crank sensor wires would matter at all.


They are fed through a 5v source through the ecu. Now if the wire feeding power to the starter solenoid was shorted out, you might have some issues.

Any good mechanic shop could figure it out for you in a decent amount of time.

 

Thanks for all the help, guys.

When my guys get here, the first thing they'll be doing is check for everything mentioned on this thread.

Please keep the ideas coming!

 

Definitely in for the results

 

man, this is like the swine flu of FI cause its seems a lot of people have similar problems all of the sudden

 

+1

I think it may have originated at TurboXS .

 

if you problem is the same as mine which i think it is, the starter bolts are loose. my starter got torqued down to much and it stripped the threads. it eventually vibrated loose enough to where the starter wasnt sitting flush as it should be. i still need to get mine re threaded but just to make sure it started i put a crush washer on the bolt and a nut at the end of the bolt. you can't put a nut on the top bolt of the starter because it won't fit, no room. gl with fixing yours

 

Yeah, I could push start the car, but after a few minutes it starts shutting off at idle.

 

Yeah, I'm sure it's nothing too major.

Hey, I remember when you were doing my build you mentioned something about the flywheel. Do you think it may play a part in these issues?

 

His car definitely sounds like an electrical problem rather than a mechanical issue.

 

Hmmm, i really dont think that would have anything to do with it. I would start with the car stereo side of things honestly. I would unhook it all from the battery and go from there.

 

I had thought about putting a Braille or Optima in a while ago for whatever minimal 'gains' I thought that would give me...but i got this same answer everywhere I went. 1-1.5 years of life then they **** the bed

 

So I replaced the battery yesterday, push started it, and drove it around the block to see if it made any difference. Still no boost, but check out what I found where the car had been parked for a week:

 

what is that?

 

I'm really not sure... it's not oil though, and I'm not even 100% sure it came from my car. It seemed fresh, but it was hard to tell since it had been raining all day. The stain was directly under the motor.

 

Carbon build up possibly after you got it started? After you drove it back home were you able to restart it or does it still need to be push started?

Are all the grounds in good shape? Do you have a capacitor for the sound system? if theres a short in that it could drain alot of power fast during ignition on cycle... maybe causing a problem with the utec or ecu.

 

Alright, I'm done with this.

I managed to get the car to the closest performance shop in my area. Not really where I wanted it to end up, but I'm cool with one of the mechanics there.

I'll post results when I have them.