DarkZ06

My car starts fine on cold starts but lately when car is hot it tries to start up and then sputters and dies, fires up on second start. No codes are showing and battery volts are good with a meter. I have LT headers but have not been on very long. I'm starting to lean towards a starter issue. Any thoughts? If I do replace starter I do have heat shield to wrap it with, also can I just loosen the header or does it have to come all the way off?
Thanks!

C5 Hardtop

it wouldnt be an issue of the starter because the starter works (spins the motor to fire it up).

it is hard to say what is wrong without more data. since there was work done to it, the issue might stem from that as you know. if you had the work done by someone and the car ran fine beforehand, bring the car back and reproduce the issue for them.

DarkZ06

Thanks for the reply, I did all the work myself, don't trust anyone to treat her as good as I do.

C5 Hardtop

Smart man, because nobody else will treat it as their own.

I'm looking for clarity on what you meant "hot it tries to start up and then sputters and dies". What I'm hearing is the starter spins fine, engine runs, but only for a sec and then dies. Is that what you mean?

I recall the world class C5R having starter troubles when hot. If the starter seems to start slow, it could be as simple as the starter motor not getting enough amps from the battery. As you know, a volt meter on the battery wont tell you that. An auto parts store should do a load test (or equivalent) for free.

Have you considered or already called tech support of the header manufacturer? They certainly have incentive to hide problems, but they may be of help side stepping liability in the event it is a problem from the headers.

DarkZ06

Thanks for the replys, yes I did manually pull codes in the DIC and it showed 0 codes on all the modes it cycles through. Good idea on having the battery load tested. As far as the headers I installed them and got my tune updated, ran great for about a month then this started happening, it's like the starter works but then a spudder and die, but always starts second time I try. It always fires cold no problem, but when it's hot it does this but not every time, it is becoming more frequent. Should have listen to the wife, she bitched at me when I started modding saying I was gonna have issues, lol. Had the car about 8 months, bought bone stock with 16k miles, now has 20k on her.

2003Evo

check and see if your secondary air pump is constantly running..try removing the fuse and see if that helps.

DarkZ06

Thanks for all the ideas guys, and I already have that fuse pulled

C5 Hardtop

consider getting a data logger (drew mongoose) and software to log OBD2 data while the engine starts, sputters and dies. then you/tuner can look at the PID values recorded during the problem and determine what values look suspect. from finding suspect PID values, you can leverage engine/mechanic domain knowlege to find the problem.
that work will require ramp up. but it is necissary if you want to know what is going on on your own. alternatively, your tuner could handle this quickly.

3boystoys

Fuel pump do this on the way out, as they get warm the internal expand and as long as the pump stays running your OK. Stop and restart work ok for a while but it get worse. Get a pressure gauge on it and see what the pressure is when this happens. Wifes old Grand prix did this, finally the pump seized.

martysauto

What happens if you open the throttle a little right after it starts?

jim993

"Always starts on a second try" - Tis is one of the symptoms a failing ignition switch can give. No codes either.