I wake up to go to work with my dad each morning at 3:30... the past two mornings, when my dad has started up the car, the engine will turn off, and then quickly cut out. Yesterday morning, this happened 3 times before the engine would start running... today it only happened once. I had no other problems starting the remainder of the day yesterday... it started fine each of the other 3 times I drove around. Anyone know what's wrong? Does this warrant an inspection? I don't know how reproducible it is...

Henry

 

The engine isn't reliably starting, and it's 6 months old?!

Yes. This warrants an inspection.

Please post back to let everyone know what turns out. How cold was it? Did it sound like it was stalling, or did it just die? If it was stalling, I believe the engine uses direct injection during cold starts...my guess is it's a timing/fuel starvation issue. Possibly bad gas. If it just cuts out w/o choking, my guess would be an electronic engine mgmt issue.

 

go to the dealer... safest bet.

 

This is what I'm thinking. Probably got some water in the gas.

 

Sounds likely, but I'd expect to see a CEL and misfire codes if there is water in the gas. Time for a trip to the dealer. Be sure to mention this is strictly a cold cycle problem on first start of the day. They'll probably want to keep the car overnight so they can duplicate the situation. The fuel system on the engine is reasonably complex with a number of feedback elements, so it's possible something isn't quite up to snuff.

Yeah, I've done a bunch of homework on GDI and Toyco's implementation for the IS...

 

I agree about making sure they keep the car overnight. I had a car with a transmission issue once that would only occur on a cold start, and they couldn't duplicate the problem until they kept it over night.

 

Get the car to the dealership. That may be a safety issue, especially if the car decides to die on you while driving...

 

will do... i live in san diego, the car is garaged, so the coldest she sees is about 40 degrees :P

i'll update after her checkup