Hey all :D
I've had my 2003 TL for almost 4 years now, and since purchase it never gave me any grief. The car has always been flawless. I kept to strict servicing @ Mits dealer. It has just passed the 80k mark. Its automatic and has had no other mods.

Here is the issue.
I start the car, runs for 0.5 - 1.0 seconds, and then turns off.

Here are the facts:
- doesnt happen all the time, sometimes 2 days in a row, then it wont happen for a week, other times, it may be every second or 3rd day or so. and then no trouble for 2 weeks. no pattern to it.
- car has no problems cranking, so that would eliminate the battery being the issue, or would it ?? i havent changed the battery since car purchase.
- WHEN and IF it does happen... 95% of the time, it will start on 3rd go. So ill start , then it stops, then start, it stops, and then starts and... keeps working. After it starts, the car runs flawlessly. I havent noticed any other trouble with it.
- MOST of the time, it happens in the morning - cold start. however yesterday it happened morning and in the afternoon (29 degree day). This morning, no issues.

I am not very mechanically minded around cars, so i wouldnt know the first place to start looking. One of the things i DID think of it could have been the fuel. Ive always used BP ultimate. So i tried changing to Shell V-power, but made no difference.

Before i take it to mits. what do you guys think about this? - Apologies about the wall of text, i wanted to give as many details as i could think of atm.

Cheers

Welcome to the club. This is a common issue and has been discussed quite a lot already. It's either your battery or BEM connector. Read this thread for more: Engine Stalling After Starting (http://www.aussiemagna.com/forums/showthread.php?t=60405)

Put a new battery in and 99.9% that will fix the issue, what is happening it gets a voltage drop after cranking and the ecu shutsdown and the car stalls.

Thanks for a fast reply guys. And sorry for starting a new thread about it, i should have searched.
So it is most likely the battery ...
I just assumed that battery is merely there to crank over the engine, and then it doesnt play an important role. Since my engine cranked no issues, i didnt assume it was the battery. But assumptions can be dangerous. Will replace the battery first thing tomorrow morning.

Thanks for a fast reply guys. And sorry for starting a new thread about it, i should have searched.
So it is most likely the battery ...
I just assumed that battery is merely there to crank over the engine, and then it doesnt play an important role. Since my engine cranked no issues, i didnt assume it was the battery. But assumptions can be dangerous. Will replace the battery first thing tomorrow morning.

It plays an extremely important role. if you have been trolling the forums in the last couple of days you would of seen one of my posts relating to my car playing up, without the alternator going, the battery lasted maybe 5km before it went flat and the car cut out, also was sluggish changing gears etc, the battery is the main power provider with the alternator to "charge" the battery while it is being used, sort of like a capacitor for a car stereo or home theater setup.

Do you have a Battery World near you? They do free battery testing. Saves you having to buy a new battery. I've been having a similar issue to you, so I had mine tested. My battery is a year and a half old, but it tested perfectly.

I spoke to my mechanic who couldn't find anything wrong with my car. However, he said that sometimes the key causes this problem. He gave me a printout of the explanation, but I threw it out :P In a nutshell, the key is part of the immobiliser system, so it can trigger this problem. His suggestion to me was to use the spare key next time this happened to me.

I haven't had this happen to me since I took my car to him so I haven't been able to give it a try myself yet. No harm in trying it yourself though, if the battery isn't the problem.

@Magna00: Is there any way to test a battery's 'health' apart from power output? Can you test anything other than voltage output with a standard multimeter to determine problems?

@Magna00: Is there any way to test a battery's 'health' apart from power output? Can you test anything other than voltage output with a standard multimeter to determine problems?

Yep, take 1 standard issue multimeter, put onto battery terminals, crank car while watching the display and check the voltage drop vs standalone.

If it drops more then 1.5v then the battery is shagged.

Or you can take the battery to Batteryworld or Supercrap and get them to check, be careful with supercrap as about 1 in 100 know how to use the tester correctly. If are going to a supercheap PM me because i can ring and guide them on how to use it correctly.

For reference a good battery sitting by itself @25C is about 12.1-12.4 V with it in the car with the car running it should read 13.8-14.7v.

Also you can get a Hydrometer (about 3 bucks from auto stores) and test the electrolyte the method in using those is remove top plug put hydrometer in, press the rubber end to suck up the fluid and check what the little thermo says inside, most of them are colour coded so green = good white = ok red = bad.

Providing it is the battery, is there any certain battery i should be going forin terms of quality, power etc? I dont mind paying a tad extra for this peace of mind.

Now I have experienced BOTH the 2 3rd gen starting problems.

Battery - start the car, immediately revs a bit and engine stops.
Can then restart immediately and there are no more problems for the rest of the day.
This is fixed by changing the battery.

BEM - Start the car. Engine revs flare for 0.5 to 1 second, Engine stops. Try again, without removing the key and the engine just cranks over.

Take the key out, re-insert, problem repeats itself as above.

There is power to the fuel pump, there is a spark but the injectors are only seeing +12V and not their opening signal.

It is possible that the issue is a dirty connection in the key antenna circuit, just google TJ stalling and look at the article on Martybugs to see what to check. If this does not work then the fix is a new BEM, new keys and reprogramme.
You'll be lucky to get away with less than $1,000 at a dealer for this. Thankfully my work has just paid for this.
Gerry

Providing it is the battery, is there any certain battery i should be going forin terms of quality, power etc? I dont mind paying a tad extra for this peace of mind.

Anything Century is good, pretty much looking at 140ish for a decent battery with at least 2 years warranty.

I have fitted a couple of these to various vehilces with no probs,worth a look aswell

http://linux.supercharge.com.au/product_detail.php?seq=31&return_url=battery_search.php

The above fits 3rd gens etc

Steve

I have fitted a couple of these to various vehilces with no probs,worth a look aswell

http://linux.supercharge.com.au/product_detail.php?seq=31&return_url=battery_search.php

The above fits 3rd gens etc

Steve

have one of these in my car currently
been going strong for 3 years now and havent had any problems whatso ever (touch wood)

have one of these in my car currently
been going strong for 3 years now and havent had any problems whatso ever (touch wood)
Me three. Got that 600 CCA one through Lugo for $143 with 3 year warranty.

Personally i have a Bosch Gold thats coming up onto 2 years, still reading 98% on the duty cycle. Was about 160ish from memory.

Thanks again for the replies.
Apparently we get a huge discount through RACV since im insured through them, etc...
Just wondering does their battery service carry any specific good brands or is it just their racv generic rubbish ??

Also, changing a battery on the magna. Does it reset anything like, the computer or anything along those lines??

Your auto will be reset. It'll run really crappy for the first day or two - rough idle, possible stalling, flared gear shifts. It'll go away though. In my experience, it takes a couple of weeks for it to be 100% again.

So i got the battery replaced tonight. According to the RACV dude the battery was the ORIGINAL one, something diamond or rather. I had the car running for 5-7 minutes after he swapped it, and it seemed to be running fine. I havent driven it since then.
And please dont say that Red Valdez. I'm about to take a trip over the weekend too, and dont need further car issues. LOL

And please dont say that Red Valdez. I'm about to take a trip over the weekend too, and dont need further car issues. LOL

It'll still work fine, it just won't be as smooth as usual :P If you're really worried, take it for a thrash for half-hour or a hour - that'll get the worst of it out of the way.

It wasnt too bad today actually. Tbh car didnt feel any different. When i jumped in this morning there was a flashing S on a trip meter, which i had no idea what that was about to i rang up mitsy and they said just hold mode, sleect 3.5L, and its done.

Glad to hear it's usually the battery. Got the same problem with my car. Currently at the mechanics getting looked at (has another few issues) .. Lets see what the mechanic will try an rip me off for :rant:

I'm having a similar issue with my TF 3.0l at the moment. A couple of weeks ago the engine cranked but wouldn't fire. Then after leaving it for a minute it would start fine. Fast forward to now and it took a good 8-10 times before it finally turned over and started running. The car runs fine when it's moving. However I've always noticed after pulling up at a set of lights after just coming off the motorway the engine revs dip but it always catches itself before it stalls. Anyhow, new fuel filter, new fuel pump, spark plugs are sparking, getting power to the fuel pump while the engine is cranking and checked a few fuses and relays. While it was idiling just after I changed the fuel pump it stalled. Tried to crank it over again but now it won't start at all.

Looking at the thread and the link on martybugs it seems to be the same issue. Problem is I don't think my 98 TF Sports has an immobiliser. Certainly doesn't have an alarm, does the immobiliser exist irrespective of the factory option set? If so I would presume it is because of the "encoded" type key.

Any help would be great! Cheers.

immobilizer could be the problem

I'm having a similar issue with my TF 3.0l at the moment. A couple of weeks ago the engine cranked but wouldn't fire. Then after leaving it for a minute it would start fine. Fast forward to now and it took a good 8-10 times before it finally turned over and started running. The car runs fine when it's moving. However I've always noticed after pulling up at a set of lights after just coming off the motorway the engine revs dip but it always catches itself before it stalls. Anyhow, new fuel filter, new fuel pump, spark plugs are sparking, getting power to the fuel pump while the engine is cranking and checked a few fuses and relays. While it was idiling just after I changed the fuel pump it stalled. Tried to crank it over again but now it won't start at all.

Looking at the thread and the link on martybugs it seems to be the same issue. Problem is I don't think my 98 TF Sports has an immobiliser. Certainly doesn't have an alarm, does the immobiliser exist irrespective of the factory option set? If so I would presume it is because of the "encoded" type key.

Any help would be great! Cheers.

Yes, the immobiliser should still exist as the transponder sits in the key I believe? If you do have an immob (and someone else might need to confirm this) then that is well worth checking out. Mine did exactly the same when the wiring shit itself and required re-soldering. Sometimes car would start first time, then other times it wouldnt. I used to resort to wobbling the loom under the the drivers footwell to encourage the immobiliser wiring to make contact lol.

Ahh goodo. Thanks guys, I'll do some investigating. And if that doesn't work, yelling into the engine bay makes me feel a whole lot better.