Car won't start! 2013 STI Hatch

truckerhucker

New member
So my 2013 STI won't start.

On Monday morning my wife started it ran for a few seconds and died it was -25c in the garage I went out and tried to boost it with my truck cause the battery is weak. Still no start. so today I warmed the garage and tried to start it. It turns over but won't start. The only change from cold to the warm garage is it turns over faster.

The engine is stock it had a short block rebuild at 142xxx km for ring failure with a timing chain/ water pump kit installed at that time. Now it has 150,000 km.

I can hear the fuel pump priming and it smells like gas after cranking over.

No codes.
 

HolyCrapItsFast

Drinks beer!
If you smell gas it could be flooded. If not then you need to troubleshoot for spark. Begin by removing the plugs and see if they are wet. while you have them out you can test the coil using either a spark tester or shove a screw driver up the coil and crank while holding the screw driver about 1/8 inch or less from a grounded surface and check for visible spark.
 

truckerhucker

New member
I frankly dont know how to pull the spark plugs on this engine. New subie owner here. I brought it to the dealer turns out the head mechanic thought the timing belt skipped. my heart also skipped a beat when he said that. so i gave them the go ahead $320 to look at the timing belt. they checked it out turns out it did skip. they reset everything and they say its mint. I left it at the dealer to install a engine block heater tomorrow. ill thank my lucky stars it just happened when the car wasnt driving.
 

Alin

Diehard Car Enthusiast!
Wow, man, that's insane!! What could even cause the timing to skip like that??? So, I take it the car is running smooth as can be right now?
 

Batmobile_Engage

Squirrel Meat Aficionado.
Staff member
Oh boy, that worries me. I don't want to unduly scare you, but I'd suggest compression and leak down tests. Short of taking everything apart, that's the easiest way to determine if any valves were damaged from turning it over repeatedly after the timing belt jumped. It's not terribly difficult to do yourself, but a shop should be able to do the tests properly without being toooo expensive.

Get ahold of the shop/dealer and inquire about those tests before they finish up!
 

truckerhucker

New member
well i took it home everything seems to be running fine. Im assuming the dealer did some sort of diagnostics to see if it damaged anything. if it had low compression wouldnt it trip a CEL. or do you think i should take it back and ask for a compression test and leakdown test? The dealer said the belt wasnt adjusted properly when the previous owners shop installed the timing belt. i think the cold weather seized the engine enough to jump teeth. But what do i really know.
 

Batmobile_Engage

Squirrel Meat Aficionado.
Staff member
Well, let's hope everything is okay then. I'd pay very close attention to how she's running, for at least the next week or two. Compression generally has to be reeeeally low to throw a CEL. If they did the belt and adjusted timing properly, I'm going to at least hope they checked the valvetrain for damage.
 
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