Narrative:

During pushback; we received the clearance from our pushback crew that we were 'clear to start #1 engine.' the captain stated 'start #1' to which I replied; 'starting #1.' the initial engine start was normal; we had normal air pressure at the start valve; N1 rotation; ignition; itt; N2 rotation and fuel flow all seemed normal. Toward the end of the engine start; we received a multitude of spurious cas messages and captain/first officer pfds; mfds; and EICAS screens blinked on and off several times. When the screens returned to normal; the itt for engine #1 was indicating in the red; at which point I immediately aborted the engine start. As soon as the start/stop switch was selected to the 'off' position; the itt immediately began dropping below the 815 limitation. After the engine was shut down; we received an 'engine exceedance' cas message. We were still connected to the tug and after consultation with maintenance control we elected to return to the gate. In consultation with maintenance control and the outstation mechanic who had arrived at the aircraft; we elected to try to restart the engine again after all passengers had deplaned the aircraft. On the second restart; we again observed an abnormally high itt and elected to abort the start at 808 degrees C. At this point a more thorough inspection of the engine was required. After talking about the problem a while longer; we decided along with the direction of the outstation mechanic to de-power the aircraft the aircraft and the re-power the aircraft and try the engine start again. Once we did this and tried to start the engine; we were able to get a normal start albeit still a warm start. Even though we were able to get a normal start; the outstation mechanic still completed the required inspection and we restarted the aircraft one more time before re-boarding the aircraft. Each subsequent start was normal although engine #1 was still much hotter than the #2 engine. Our flight to ZZZ then proceeded uneventfully. Unfortunately; the only suggestion to prevent this from happening again would be to have an analog itt gauge that is not prone to power/screen loss and that is not a practical option on this aircraft.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An ERJ-170 flight crew experienced several hot starts complicated by power interruptions that hid the EGT gauges momentarily.

Narrative: During pushback; we received the clearance from our pushback crew that we were 'clear to start #1 engine.' The Captain stated 'Start #1' to which I replied; 'Starting #1.' The initial engine start was normal; we had normal air pressure at the start valve; N1 rotation; ignition; ITT; N2 rotation and fuel flow all seemed normal. Toward the end of the engine start; we received a multitude of spurious CAS messages and Captain/First Officer PFDs; MFDs; and EICAS screens blinked on and off several times. When the screens returned to normal; the ITT for Engine #1 was indicating in the red; at which point I immediately aborted the engine start. As soon as the start/stop switch was selected to the 'off' position; the ITT immediately began dropping below the 815 limitation. After the engine was shut down; we received an 'Engine Exceedance' CAS message. We were still connected to the tug and after consultation with Maintenance Control we elected to return to the gate. In consultation with Maintenance Control and the Outstation Mechanic who had arrived at the aircraft; we elected to try to restart the engine again after all passengers had deplaned the aircraft. On the second restart; we again observed an abnormally high ITT and elected to abort the start at 808 degrees C. At this point a more thorough inspection of the engine was required. After talking about the problem a while longer; we decided along with the direction of the Outstation Mechanic to de-power the aircraft the aircraft and the re-power the aircraft and try the engine start again. Once we did this and tried to start the engine; we were able to get a normal start albeit still a warm start. Even though we were able to get a normal start; the Outstation Mechanic still completed the required inspection and we restarted the aircraft one more time before re-boarding the aircraft. Each subsequent start was normal although Engine #1 was still much hotter than the #2 engine. Our flight to ZZZ then proceeded uneventfully. Unfortunately; the only suggestion to prevent this from happening again would be to have an analog ITT gauge that is not prone to power/screen loss and that is not a practical option on this aircraft.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.