92 Laser won't start when cold

[spyderturbo007]

I am looking to purchase a '92 Laser. It's a AWD Turbo and has a problem starting when it's cold. The current owner said that after sitting for 4 months it fired right up (after charging the battery). He drove it about 30 minutes with no problem and then it was parked to be sold.

Since then there has been an intermitent problem starting the vehicle when it is cold. Any ideas what it could be? I haven't had a chance to look at the vehicle thoroughly (I will be doing that this afternoon). Any suggestions?

The only things I can come up with is coolant temp sensor and possible leaking caps in the ECU.

My buddy has a Snap-On scanner I will be using to check the coolant temp sensor and I am going to try get the guy to let me pull the ECU to check the caps. I am also going to try and pull the battery cable for 10 minutes or so to try and reset the ECU and see if that helps. I really don't know anything about the 92 Lasers and ANY ideas would be helpful!

Thanks again guys/gals!

[joemathews]

If he hasn't driven it enough to charge the battery, that could very well be it. It will take more than 30 minutes of driving to fully charge an old battery that has been sitting for 4 months.

[spyderturbo007]

Thanks for the reply Joe, but I missed the boat. I took a 1/2 day from work yesterday and ended up being 10 minutes behind the guy who bought it. The owner was able to get it started and it was sold when I got there.

The car was an AWD turbo with 145k. Everything looked good except for a small section of the dash was peeling and it needed a tire. Other than the small section of the dash, the interior looked new. The body was in really good shape for it's age (just some peeling on the top of the side mirrors).

It was sold for $1000. DAMNIT!!! Ten freaking minutes!