Intermittent Start Problem '07 H3
 

The wife's H3 occasionally refuses to start. It turns over fine, but just won't fire. It's very intermittent. Before yesterday, it happened about 8 months ago. I'm never around to see it, but twice she says she got someone to connect battery cables and it fires right up. A couple of times, she just let it sit for a while and it finally fired.

Don't understand why jumping it could possibly help if the thing is already turning over on it's own.

I was originally thinking fuel pump, but after reading some posts about "electrical gremlins", I'm not sure.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Mark

First thing to do, if you still have the OEM crappy azzed Battery Terminal Connectors, get rid of them ASAP and replace with a quality aftermarket set like Stingers or your favorite brand. Single biggest cause of H3 and GMT 355 electrical Gremlins.

Search this out, there are a ton of threads on this, basic H3 101 info. It is not a matter of "if" your OEM POS battery terminal connectors go bad, it is a matter of when. As soon as most people remove and re-attach the OEM connectors, they go down hill from there.

Cheap insurance to easily rule out that all too common problem.

If I were going to replace the battery at the same time, would there be any benefit to replacing the battery terminals with side terminal connections (and buying a side terminal battery)?

No, the battery box on the H3 uses top terminals, to fit side terminals you would have to hack that up too.

Good point. Didn't think about that. Thanks.

Solid gold. :D

It's been 2 months since I replaced the battery terminals and now it does it again. Turns over fine, just won't fire. Connect jumper cables, and it fires right off. Can't figure it out. It doesn't drag like the battery is weak. Is there a starter relay or something that may be getting a little weak and sometimes needs a little extra "umph" to get it closed? I'm baffled. Any suggestions would be welcome.

it turns over huh.
you can hook a meter to the batt and see where the volts drop when cranking.
i think not less than 10 volts typ.
i dont remember any posts about cranking but not starting because of low volts.

Passlock issue?

My 07 has done that 3 times. Don't remember the details, but a light comes on the panel , something about security. You can look it up in owners manual. Turn it off and wait 10 minutes and its clear and will start. Only happens about every other year, but always when I'm in a hurry. When that little security light is lit up the fuel pump is off. Probably the time limit is up by the time she gets the jumpers hooked up.