help, i'm confused..

i have a 2001 accent which is an auto. everytime i try to start my car, it
sorta stalls before starting. yesterday my car didnt want to start at all.
then i just kept fiddling with it (kept trying to start it) and it finally
did. now it starts perfectly fine. whats the deal here? some of my friends
say its my starter and my dad thinks it could be a short in the wires.
others say its my alternator. what is it?! i'm taking my car to the shop
monday morning at 7:30 am but i want to know why my car is acting up before
i go. can anyone help?

 

It could be the fuel system. Maybe the pump or the injectors are acting up.
If you can smell gas after trying to start it, it might be in the ignition
system(plugs orpick ups) Let us know what you find out.

 

nope, i dont smell gas at all when i try to start the car. i dont know whats
wrong. guess i wont find out til monday.

 

**So far, in my years of driving, I've only gotten one tank of bad
gas. It was at an Amoco station. The car started misfiring and
straining so I threw in some STP gas treatment stuff and it stopped. I
also purchased some milk at that Amoco mart, that same day, and when I
opened it the next day, it was bad. Bad to the point of being chunky.
Gross. I never went back to that station.

kaboomie

 

I stopped buying gas at Arco years ago because of the misfiring it caused. I
used to joke about them cutting the gas with water, and a couple of years
ago it was reported on the news that one Arco station was found to have
water in their gas. Heh.

 

Well, the only places i fill my tank up with gas is Shell or Mickey's. There
hasnt been a report about any water in the gas or whatnot. I dunno. My car
is going to the dealer tomorrow morning at 7:30 am. Hopefully they'll find
the problem.

 

stupid stupid STUPID shop. they couldnt fix my car cause they said they
couldnt find the problem. well geez, my car wont start so how is THAT not a
problem?! i got it started this morning when i drove up to the line and then
i shut it off. then they told me to pull up but my car wouldnt start. what
is that?! golly, can ANYONE tell me ANYTHING i can do to fix the damn thing
myself?

 

**Wow, that *is* a stupid shop. Is it a Hyundai dealership or a
regular shop? I suggest that you go to a dealership, have them see if
the car's computer is storing any codes that might give them a hint.
It could be anything.

kaboomie

 

What is the name of the dealer you took the car to?