hey brickers,

i've had intermittent hard starts for pretty much the entire 3 years i've owned my 90 240...sometimes it would start fine, other times it would take 3-4 turns, a rumble and clunk before it would finally turn over. i've had my indy mechanic look into this on and off but it kept returning. finally, last week, it became obvious that the starter motor was on its way out. it was making the "dead whirring" sound as i like to call it and might turn over after the 5th crank. anyway, put in a new used starter motor and the car starts great. 100% difference. i wouldn't have initially thought a starter was the problem, but it seems to have addressed my hard start. so, if you have a long-lasting, intermittent hard start, you may want to consider the starter motor.

cheers

s.c.