Comment by lgeorget
6 years ago
I had a similar problem on my previous car. It would start again without issue after stopping if the pause was shorter than 15min or longer than half an hour but there was a spot in between where the car had cooled down too much and not enough at the same time to start. It's nice to see it was not just a fancy from an old car and to know the reason.
I still have this problem on my 2004 Opel Astra. When it sits for about 15-20mins I have problem starting, but I just have to start it for about 5 seconds instead of instantly. Longer or shorter pauses are ok.
I had this same issue as a teen in the late 90s with an old 1984 Pontiac Phoenix. If it sat longer than 2 hours it would start just fine or if I started the car within 15 minutes of last using it. In that ~2hr gap if I needed to use the car I would have to spray some carb cleaner into the engine to get it started.