1990 Geo Prizm cranks, but will not start

[rrk127]

My apologies if you already saw this post in the Corolla forum, but I am desperate to get this car stable again!

I have a 1990 Geo Prizm with about 100K miles on it. Of late, the car has been giving me trouble starting. I have to crank it multiple times to start the car. That is: I crank, stop, wait 10 seconds, crank again and it runs. However, sometimes I just cannot get it to run. I crank repeatedly and nothing happens. Whenever this happens, I have always been able to get it running by pushing the car and popping the clutch. At first (before I figured out that a push start would work) I tried jump starting from another car - it would not start. I guess this means the battery is not the problem. Also, it has never stopped while running. I have replaced the distributor cap (but not the rotor), spark plugs and wires. Since the car has OBD1, I tried to read the disgnostic code and I get 43 (NO "STA" SIGNAL TO ECU UNTIL ENGINE SPEED EXCEEDS 800RPM). I suspect that I am getting this code because I push started the car. I would like to keep this car for a while more - any suggestions on what might be the problem? I deperately need this car to keep me going.

The other funny thing I've noticed is that the car starts rightaway when the engine is warm or hot. That is, if I have the car running for a while and stop it - when I then try to start, it fires right up. Any ideas?

[higgimonster]

sounds like you might have a problem with your fuel pump or fuel pressure regulator causeing the fuel lines to drain thus making it hard for the pump to get fuel into the engine.

and (i tried not to say this but i have to) the problem might also be that it is a Geo Prizm :flash:

[rrk127]

But given that the car runs great once it starts, could it be a fuel problem? What kind of fuel problem could cause intermittent trouble when starting, but no trouble at all when running?

As for the car being a Prizm, it is surprising how rock solid the car has been until now. Its also a chear car :sun:

[ivymike1031]

um, the kind mentioned above? Some cars are very difficult to start when the gas tank is low, for a similar reason. I hesitate to say that a pump or fpr is the problem; I'd look for an anti-backflow valve of some sort (which may be integrated into the pump)...