Thread: car delayed starting today?

I noticed sometimes when I turned key over,the car would fire right up but the rpms would jump around like it was going to stall, but then it would smooth out in a second or two. this wouldn't happen every time though. the car otherwise runs flawlessly, no stalling,no loss of power, nothing. I'm getting good mpgs and everything.

today I went to eat lunch at the office. I left the office about 30 minutes later and when I went to start the car, it cranked for a while before it would start, maybe 15 seconds. then all of a sudden it fired up and ran flawlessly after that.

I did the upper and lower intake gaskets a few weeks ago, but his startup thing has happened before that repair (mentioned in first paragraph). it was just today that it took that long to start.

I cleaned it maf sensor when I did the intake gaskets but that's it. I also had a map code before I did the gaskets and I replaced map sensor and code went away. I smell no gas and have no gas leaks. I haven't done a tune up to the car because it RUNS fine imo.

I do notice sometimes when It starts, the blower motor takes a bit to blow full power and the car feels like it has to "catch" before reaching regular rpm.

any ideas?

Check the voltage at the battery, and while you're at it perhaps check to make sure the alternator is within spec.

http://www.aa1car.com/library/battery_runs_down.htm

As for the rpms jumping around try cleaning your throttle body first if you haven't in awhile and see if that clears up your issue.

the battery is about 3 months old. I only cleaned the maf sensor and the butterfly in the throttle body.

Check the alternator, if that is on its way out it would not be able to fully charge your battery despite being new. What year is your GP and what kind of mileage do you have on it. A tune up is also a good way of eliminating these issues depending upon the mileage and the last time you had one done. This would include changing the fuel filter or potentially also point to a failing fuel pump. Not sure without more info, but provided with a volt meter you can eliminate a number of things making sure they ohm or are within spec. Just do a search on how to test these items and go from there.

tom, I would clean the TB and maf again, also the tps, just pull and clean all the connections

can I just use throttle body cleaner on all the sensors on the throttle body?