Kermit wouldn't start! (starter cranked, but engine wouldn't start/run)

[palebeachbum]

Hey everyone. I want to share an unnerving experience I had the other afternoon with Kermit (my Kiwi Green '14 Mirage). I'm wondering if my experience is unique or if it's a common occurrence with the Mirage in general. I needed to make some room in my driveway for an arriving visitor one morning. So, I cranked up Kermit and immediately pulled him forward about 10ft and shut him off. Mind you, this was early in the morning and Kermit had not yet been driven that day, so the engine was cold. I didn't attempt to start Kermit again until the following afternoon. He wouldn't start! The engine would turn over, but the engine acted like it was starved of fuel. By the fifth attempt, I held the throttle to the floor in desperation. He reluctantly sputtered and coughed to life, belching a cloud of dark smoke. It eventually dissipated. I sat there for about 5mins letting him idle, wanting to make sure he was ok to drive. He behaved normal on the drive to the store. When I was ready to leave the store and come home, he started up without a fuss. I'm assuming having started and immediately shut off the cold engine screwed up something with the electronic fuel management. Any thoughts? Similar experiences?


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Admin edit... Related threads:

Thread: Engine would crank but not start/run

Thread: Breakdown blues (starter cranks, but engine wont run/start)

This Thread: 2015 mirage wont start help!!? (Cranks but won't fire)

[Eggman]

Did you have the ECU reflash recall done? It was to address excessive fuel on cold starts.

[Top_Fuel]

...I held the throttle to the floor in desperation.

When you hold the throttle wide open while you are cranking a fuel-injected car, there is no fuel delivered by the fuel injectors (search the web for clear flood mode). So if flooring the throttle helped to get the car started, you likely had an overly rich condition. Based on the fact that your car belched out a cloud of dark smoke (unburned or poorly-burned fuel) when it started, it sounds like that's what is going on.

Definitely look into the ECU flash updates that Eggman mentioned.

[palebeachbum]

Yes I had the ECU recall taken care of last Spring. Back then we were having lots of warm, wet days, which was causing the idle during cold starts to "bounce" between 700 and 1,000rpm or so. The ECU reflash did nothing to resolve that. Still does it under the same conditions. Now, this weird no start condition. I'm kind of hoping it does it again so I can get the dealership to look at it under warranty. I've only got 8,000 miles left on the bumper to bumper 50k mile warranty. Although this may be considered under the 80k mile emissions warranty.

[Fummins]

I've had a couple mirage's not start for drivers at work when it was very cold or not started in weeks. I held them to the floor to clear the flooding and they started right up. I don't know exactly why it happened but it's been almost a year now and the cars haven't acted up since. The 2015's here have had all the recalls and updates done too.

[grevster]

I guess I have the same issue: yesterday i tried to start the engine from cold (inside underground parking) and i got very low idle rpms and stall. I shut off the engine and tried couple more restarts, still got the same result. After 3-4 attempts like this, the next attempt could not start the engine at all (also smell of gasoline was present). Then in the last attempt i gave some gas (about %50 position), then i was able to start, but engine light came on. I drove the car about 2 hours, then came back home. I tried to start the engine while engine was warm and it started without any issue.

I took a video (i think it was the 3rd attempt, which still started the engine but stalled), https://streamable.com/iwcj7. Please note that it normally idles around 1200-1100 rpms when starting from cold, it is clearly visible that the rpm is around 500-600 rpms this time.

I will be showing this to the dealership along with this TSB i found in the TSBs thread.

[Fummins]

Probably flooded. If it doesn’t start on the first try they usually flood. If you shut it off shortly after starting they like to flood. If you had it running and it ran like the Pooh it was probably flooded, give it a little gas and it woulda cleared up on the first try. These are the most finicky cold starting cars I’ve ever dealt without a carburetor. When I cold start mine I just hold the key til the starter turns off. The cars are almost idiot proof, the starter becomes disabled once the engine is running.