Hi, my Dad (not me - I don't own this car!) has a Hyundai Accent 1.5 GSI. Its a 52 reg with 40K+ on the clock. Today we got in it to go out and it wouldn't start, despite pushing the throttle flat down - we tried about 6 - 7 times. Leaving it about 10 seconds between starts.

We had to go out so we just got in Mums car to go.

When we got back we thought we should check the battery for charge - which was fine. Then I said to Dad to just try starting it, and it worked right away! We took it for a run, and started and stopped it a few times - with no problems!!

We have come to the conclusion that maybe it was just damp, and having the ignition on for a while to do the battery test, dried out the leads etc a bit.

Would be grateful for any opinions. My personal one is he should buy a Skoda!

Many thanks

Rich

Damp on leads is possible, but they would need to be quite knackered un;ess he went through a puddle or something.

Could be an iffy earth to the starter motor, or a dead spot on the starter motor.

Next time it does it try putting it in second and rocking the car then try starting it again. If that doesn't work give the starter motor a quick tap with a rubber mallet then try starting it.

Or they could just be plain mucky. I once sorted my then landlady's Metro not starting if the weather was even damp. All I did was clean the outside of the dissie cap, and the leads, then spray them with WD-40.

thanks for the replies - my dad went on a hyundai forum (uh oh!) and discovered it could be a fault with the key (try removing and then inserting again to sort), or the brackets that hold different parts onto the bodywork rust and cause electrical shorts. He does have a few rusty parts in there, so that might be the next fix. I suggested he sprayed WD40 on the ignition system in the meantime, although it was all recently replaced at the last service.