’97 accent cold starting problems

My ’97 accent GL with manual transmission at 130,000 kilometers
(that’s around 75,000 miles) started giving me problems last winter.
At first it was every couple of months, then every couple of weeks,
then every couple of days. It would turn over, but not catch. I would
have to crank it up to 24 times before it would start. I’d crank it 6
or 8 times then let it sit for 15 minutes. It would always start
eventually, and when it did it would be fine for 6 or 8 hours or
sometimes overnite. So I took it to a garage near where I work.
They’ve been around since the 40s and have an excellent reputation. I
normally would have taken it to the hyundai dealer where I bought it,
but they changed owners last year and the new people are shady. The
garage changed my starter, explaining that my starter wasn’t turning
fast enough. I took their word for it and picked it up on a friday,
the 19th of august. They charged me $335 canadian dollars. So it
started up saturday and sunday, but monday morning it took 45 minutes
to start it. Tuesday and wednesday it was fine, but thursday morning
it took 12 cranks or so. Let it sit at work for 6 hours and it did it
again, although only 6 cranks started it. Friday and saturday it was
good, didn’t drive it sunday and am about to go to work now, so my
fingers are crossed. The garage wants me to leave it with them which
means I’m looking at 30 mile bus trip to work and back. I got a new
battery last fall as well as new spark plugs and wires. I’ve been
reading topics in this forum and other people have been having the
same problem.It’s been suggested that a bad crank sensor is the
problem, but nobody has come back and said that replacing that solved
their problem. Has anybody that went through what I’m going through
fixed the problem? Except for this, my accent has been excellent.

 

One of the problems with this situation is that over the internet we can't
really find out what's going on with your car. Ideally, we'd check it
with a scan tool to see if there are any codes, what the sensors are
reading, etc. We'd check for spark and injector pulse. These are things
that will help us figure out what type of problem you're having and what
systems to check.

There've been a couple threads about coolant temperature sensor problems
causing a similar issue. The fact that it cranks for a while and
eventually starts makes me believe it's less likely a crank sensor than
other cases. I suppose you could try moving the connector around a little
on the coolant temp sensor and retry starting the car. Wiggling the
connector sometimes makes the temp sensor return to the normal value.

 

have you flooded the car in the last while.
had a similar problem with my elantra VE.
after you flood the car you Must change the spark plugs and oil.
once I did that everything went back to normal

 

Thanks for the reply. I’ll try wiggling that sensor when I find out
where it is. I picked up a chilton hyundai repair manual on cd at wal
mart. I’ll try that before I leave my car at the garage so they can
see what’s happening when it doesn’t start.

 

I never heard of having to replace plugs and change the oil after
flooding an engine. I don’t think I’ve ever flooded it. I can’t smell
any gas. I keep the accelerator halfway down when cranking, I never
pump it.

 

The sensor is on the thermostat housing.

Also, you shouldn't have to hold the pedal down at all when starting.