RidgeRider

Well not really, but I've been having some intermittent issues with starting it. To give a little bit of background, I bought my 1994 SC300, with 132k miles, a few weeks ago for $2250 and it had driven just fine.
Then for whatever reason it started intermittently cranking, but not starting. Every single time I'd drive it back from a shop, both of which were unable to get it to replicate the same issue, it would crank but not start again.
Eventually I ended up having the fuel pump and filter replaced and for a few days it worked like a dream.

Unfortunately the issue seems to be back. I can get it to crank and if I do it 4-5 times with waits in between, eventually it will start up with a bit of throttle. There's no rough idling, no issues at high rpms when driving, and it doesn't have issues with starting then dying. However it doesn't want to start for me, almost specifically. I tried to start it before school the other day and couldn't manage, so I had to take the Neon. I reach the bottom of my hill and receive a call from my father stating that he got it to start no problem. Where should I begin with all this?

Also the previous owner had performed the 12v bypass mod on it, not sure if that would have any hand in all of this but I figured I'd mention it regardless.

Thanks in advance guys. I really love this car and it's been killing me not to be able to drive it, especially with the weather finally improving. For the person who solves the issue I'll quite literally send you a cookie, homemade even.

t2d2

iTrader: (8)

I had similar problems, right down to every "fix" failing after a couple days. I eventually found one of the hose fittings to the bottom of the fuel tank (I think it was the return line) was decayed enough to be not even finger tight. Fuel pressure would drop, creating the long-crank problem when cold. It was never bad enough to be unable to start, but it made me nervous about premature wear on the hard-to-service 1UZ starter (no such issue on your 2JZ).

The other common thing to look at is ECU servicing. The original capacitors are long past their shelf life at this point, and when they leak, they can cause all sorts of problems.

Zerodrag

iTrader: (5)

If it always starts fine after sitting for extended periods of time (or first thing in the mornings), maybe check the fuel pressure regulator isn't leaking or bad.

if it starts fine when cold (and still starts fine after immediately restarting the car after shutdown), but has trouble restarting after a few minutes, check the temp sensor.

just my $0.02...

RidgeRider

@t2d2 I'll definitely look for wear on the fuel lines and return hoses and see if that has anything to do with it. In reference to the possibility of an ecu issue, the previous owner had actually swapped out the original one with a newer one. Though it's still of course possible that the newer ecu is going bad as well.

@Zerodrag How would I go about checking each of those things? It doesn't really seem to have a set pattern of not wanting to start. My dad, who has had no issue starting it, usually gives it a bit of gas as he starts it. Not sure if that detail has anything to do with the starting issues, however I figured more information never hurts lol

Thanks to both of you for your input! Hopefully I can get this figured out before too many nice driving days elapse hahaha.

Zerodrag

iTrader: (5)

I believe the simple test of the regulator would be to pull off the vacuum hose and check for fuel in there. If you do find fuel, it would be a leaking regulator.
For the temp sensor, I know there's a process it can be checked using a multi-meter to monitor the difference in readings between cold and warm, but don't know the specifics. Just make sure you check the correct sensor, since one should be for the instrument cluster gauge which is the one you DO NOT want to test.