[DrewNZ]

Hello, and thanks for any help you can provide!

A few months ago I bought a very cheap used 1989 Hyundai Excel hatchback with about 80k miles to travel around New Zealand with on a working holiday. It has been surprisingly low maintenance, with the exception of one persistent and worsening problem with getting the car started.

I only have trouble when starting from cold. When the car has been running in the last few hours, it starts without fail.

I turn the key in the ignition, and the engine starts, though sometimes it takes quite a few tries (battery problem?) It always starts eventually though. But then the engine sometimes turns off immediately, and the battery light comes on (alternator problem?) Or more commonly, the engine stays on until I put the car in gear and then it dies and the battery light comes on. Or I put the car in gear and put my foot on the gas and this seems to cause it to die-- and the problem appears to be worse the more work I try to make the engine do, such that I've been in the trickiest situations when starting on a slope. Ultimately after several minutes and putting the car back in park and restarting the engine a half dozen times, I'm good to go and it doesn't give me any more trouble. The problem seems to have become progressively worse since when I first bought the car in October. Today I started the car for the first time in a week and I had to turn the key in the ignition for a good thirty seconds before the engine caught, and then it gave up immediately the first two or three times I got it going.

The odd thing about my situation is that I bought the car for what at the exchange rate was about US$280, and I'm not likely to be able to sell it for a whole lot more than a few hundred dollars when I head back to the states in a few months (there seems to be a strange little economy of old beat up cars getting passed from tourist to tourist at unthinkably low prices down here,) and as such would not be willing to pay much for repairs. It's a very functional little car and were I staying down here I would be happy to invest in making it run for several more years, but I'm not, and I won't have the time and resources to sell it back at anything other than a few hundred bucks (which is fine, because that's all I paid for it), and I'm going to have a hell of a time selling it at all if it appears to be unhappy starting.

Ideas? I'd really appreciate any thoughts, thanks!

[TxGreaseMonkey]

1. Clean battery terminals and connections.

2. If you can get cheap salvage prices :

. Replace the Ignition Control Module (most likely culprit):

While we find your parts, please enter your ZIP Code at PartsAmerica.com

. Replace the coil:

While we find your parts, please enter your ZIP Code at PartsAmerica.com

. Engine Coolant Temperature (ECT) Sensor:

http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/Pro...pe=290&PTSet=A

The ECT Sensor affects fuel injector pulse width. It's a temperature dependent resistor (thermistor), whose resistance decreases as the engine coolant temperature increases. It provides a richer mixture when cold, leaner mixture when hot.

. Replace spark plugs.

These are my thoughts on the situation. The electrical system is likely weak, due to age, and dies under load.