help me out i have 02 wrx with about 65,xxx miles on it. When i drive for 30 min to an hour and turn the car off when i go to start in 10 to 15 min later nothin happens the lights turns on the dash when i turn the key. I turn the key 4-7 times then i starts just fine when the car is cold turns on first time....anybody know wats goin on... thanks for the input

 

Has the car been properly maintained? It should have undergone scheduled maintenance at 60,000 miles. I've got almost 70,000 miles on my '02 WRX and have no starting problems.

Since you are able to start the car after turning the key a few times, it sounds like more of an electrical problem in the switch or starting circuit rather than a weak battery. It could be a heat soak problem which helps to explain why it only happens when the engine is warm.

You could always bring it to the dealer or a local shop like DB Tuned in Roseville for diagnosis.

--
0==WW==0
"…axles of evil…" - george w. bush

 

sounds like it could be a starter problem. How does the car do on a cold start?

 

I have had a similar problem a couple of times as well.

The first time it happened to me was when the car was about 3 months old. I was in a parking lot. I reversed out of a space and stalled the car, so I tried to restart the engine. The car would not respond though - no starter, solenoid, anything other than the lights on the dash. I tried to restart it several times and ended up getting out and pushing the car back into the parking space. I waited a couple of minutes while thinking about who to call and then gave it another try at which point it started.

It has only failed twice since in about 90,000 miles of driving. I think this is just a random fluke problem. Given that my local Subaru dealer couldn't even diagnose the cold fuel problem correctly, I doubt they could have reproduced this.

The best solution seems to be to wait a few minutes and try again.

 

thanks for the input guys

 

ur starter might be goin bad

 

So are you saying it does not crank at all, or that it cranks but does not start? Big difference between the two. Also is your car manual or automatic?
Or, has this been solved since your post is two weeks old?

 

I'm not sure about the thread starter's current situation, but I couldn't get my car fixed because I couldn't reproduce the problem. As I mentioned, it has only done it twice in 90,000 miles. In my case the engine did not even crank. It was as if the solenoid for the starter had been removed. It hasn't happened in the last couple of years though so maybe the problem has gone away.

 

If you have a manual transmission, (and I know this through experience), you probably need to push the clutch pedal in further because of the cut-off switch that is wired onto the clutch pedal. Those that don't know, that cut-off switch is there to prevent kids/idiots/morons from starting a manual transmission equipped car with the transmission in gear. That way, the car will not lurch forward when the engine starts. I have experienced "no-start" issue a couple of times and found out that the floor mat was preventing me from pushing the clutch pedal all the way to the floor, thereby not turning the cut-off switch off. Just a thought.

 

Nope, it wasn't the clutch interlock - although I guess the switch itself might be slightly dodgy. I tried pressing and releasing it a couple of times in case the switch had stuck, but no joy.