My car is completly reliable but in the past 3 days or so I've encountered a problem starting the car.

Tuesday = Scenario 1:

Went to the petrol station, filled up, paid for the fuel got back in the car and turned the ignition - nothing at all. Luckily bumped into somebody I know and we bump started the car - off I went... stopped at a mates house who I was going to visit when I filled up. Left the car running while I went in and told him I suspected my starter motor might be jammed. When we came out the car was dead (plenty of life in the battery as all the lights would come on and the horn worked fine) - turning the key there were no ignition lights. This problem turned out to be a blown 30A fuse under the bonnet - swapped it for the power window fuse and I was good to go!

Thursday = Scenario 2:
Car running perfectly during the day, went shopping etc and then due to the snow and road conditions, had to reverse the car back up a single track road to allow a couple of cars to get by. As I reversed back up I managed to stall the car

No problem quickly turn the key and away we go again - no turnover of the engine again....

Had a look around under the bonnet at the fusebox and no sign of any blown fuses, after about 10 mins was thinking of calling a mate of mine to give me a tow to my house and thought I'd give it one last go and the car started...hmmm

Has anybody here had problems with intermittent starting?

I reckon your starter is suspect - had something similar on my last Rover.

Can't remember what it was exactly, I ?think? it's the solonoid - I'd have a close inspection of the starter terminals and cables in case one has worked loose and corroded, before planning anything major.

Wilco supply starters on an exchange/return basis, if you need one

I'll have a look tomorrow during the daytime then.

The starter hasn't given me any trouble at all before these two incidents but I'll report back

Starters are like turbos - fine one minute and knackered the next, don't seem to wear out.

Might be something unrelated completely, but it sounds like the problem I was having...

The weird bit was that it fired up instantly after waiting a bit though... if I'm lucky it'll be Ok till the weather gets a bit better....

doesnt that crank sensor cause a problem when the car warms then works gain when cools, not a 100% but im sure someone will comment on if im barking up the wrong tree, as i'd say its probably the starter. Cold weather doesnt do good for cars aspecialy mine its like a block of ice with everything that freezes on it.

Was out in the car today - started first turn immediately each time to be honest.

The problem that I had was that all the dash lights came on but there wasn't anything happening once I tried to crank the engine. The key was turned and absolutely nothing happened at all.

I'm suspecting the ignition fuse blowing might have been caused when I was driving the car and attempted to turn the key to see if the starter was jammed...

When I had the problem last night all the fuses were OK - it's seemed more like the starter just wasn't getting any power to it when I turned the ignition.

I've got another electrical issue which I'll create a separate thread for which might be connected?

Well the interior light and clock problems were cured by replacing a bad fuse

I had another failure to start this evening - funny thing is I just need to leave the car for a bit then it will start.

Now that I know my car has the Alpha engine fitted to it - do I need a different starter motor?

As the weather has been totally shiite I've not been underneath to have a look see at what's going on...

Just posted in your other thread - the starter will be the same as the one used on the Elantra, mate.Should be easy to find and it's not very likely to be the same as a Beta Coupe...

SWEEEET

That info could do with being squirreled away in a 'sticky' or FAQ or similar for future reference