Lets talk about this annoying hot start problem...

#1 10-05-2005, 10:28 PM

are there any KNOWN fixes for this?

the person who had my SVX before me wired in some relay and it simply does not work.

ive searched and read thru old posts that suggests wiring the starter directly to the battery can correct this? any proof?

another idea i had was a starter button.

Electrophil · #2 10-05-2005, 11:22 PM

Some will not agree, but I'm saying it works through experience. Replace the stock wiring to the starter with new stock wiring or one gauge better. That's it... It works.

No relays, no fancy alternator configs, no direct runs bypassing an electrical system designed by Electrical Engineers sporting fancy degrees and 4 years of advanced math classes.

The wiring is old, and positioned in a car with excessive transmission heat. It gets brittle and cannot carry the current it could when the wiring was a couple of years old. And it's amazing how we all think it's ok to replace a temp sensor with like kind without a second thought, but wouldn't dream of replacing sections in our harnesses without an elaborate rework of the entire electrical system.

And it's really not that hard to do, if you use the old wiring as your "pull line" for the new wiring. Unwrapping can be time consuming though.

Now I'll grit my teeth and prepare for the attack from the back yard engineers.

Earthworm · #3 10-07-2005, 01:10 PM

Wasn't it already determined to be the ignition switch wearing out/falling apart?

nordique14 · #4 10-07-2005, 02:08 PM

Replacing the ignition switched helped a lot, but not completely.

When I first started having starting trouble, it was only on restarting a hot engine on a hot day. Eventually it began happening more frequently so it would sometimes happen with a cold engine. Replacing the ignition switch seemed to cure it. I say "seemed to" as on a couple of very hot days after running the car hard, I had trouble if I tried restarting within, say, a 1/2 hour of shutting down.

I agree that the wiring in the SVX is underdone and an upgrade would be helpful. But I would say that the switch is a good thing to replace and see how much it helps.

--Matt

#5 10-08-2005, 05:36 PM

yeah, those are the same symptoms i am having.

warmer days, short trips in the car say to the store or whatever...1/2 hour later im cycling the key 40 times to get it started again.

the previous owner said he installed a fix for it but it might as well not be in there at all, in short - it doesnt do anything.

so start with the ignition switch? i think that was already replaced once in the cars life - it has an STi key for the ignition and the normal key for the doors/trunk.

any others? and thanks to the people who replied.

SVXRide · #6 10-08-2005, 06:34 PM

I'm with the "replace the wiring" train of thought....there is a lot of heat generated under the hood and it eventually turns all of the wiring's insulation to something resembling a brittle twig (this includes the wire leads on the knock sensors, the wiring to the alternator, etc.). Adding additional grounding straps doesn't hurt

-Bill