# 97 Bonneville - Intermitten Failure to Start **URL:** \ **Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\ **Created:** [April 15, 2008, 1:55am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/97-bonneville-intermitten-failure-to-start/12892 "2008-04-15T01:55:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![rckrchrdsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/48db29/32.png) [@rckrchrdsn](https://community.cartalk.com/u/rckrchrdsn)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 1:55am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/97-bonneville-intermitten-failure-to-start/12892/1 "2008-04-15T01:55:08Z")
If my car is cold it starts fine. If it is warm it starts fine. Its somewhere in between that is the problem. The starter will engage and turn the engine, but it won’t start. Also as the car warms up it will run rough for about 10 to 15 seconds and then go smooth again. This is somewhere between 150F and 200F on the temperature guage. Once it goes over this temp I have about 2 hours of engine-off time to start the car. If it goes longer then the car won’t start for about another hour or so. When the car is started it has no other issues, fuel mileage is fine, accerlation is fine. Recently, after the car is started and warm, I get a whining noise like a turbine engine, which winds down for a moment after the engine is turned off. ---
**Author:** ![hellokit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6a8cbe/32.png) [@hellokit](https://community.cartalk.com/u/hellokit)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 8:16am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/97-bonneville-intermitten-failure-to-start/12892/2 "2008-04-15T08:16:23Z")
If the engine behavior is that predictable, why aren’t you taking it to a mechanic for diagnostics? The problem has to be narrowed, somewhat, to: Is it lack of spark? Or, is it lack of fuel (being injected into the engine)? Then, troubleshooting steps can be taken to narrow that down further. ---
**Author:** ![willey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a9adbd/32.png) [@willey](https://community.cartalk.com/u/willey)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 12:41pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/97-bonneville-intermitten-failure-to-start/12892/3 "2008-04-15T12:41:26Z")
When the car doesn’t start is when it needs to be checked out. The basics need to be checked… is there spark? Is there fuel? These are the first 2 things that have to be checked.