Thread: Long Starts

Well, my TPS and torque converter both went out and now I'm having long starts all within like two weeks of each other. The car just cranks forever before the engine fires up. What does that sound like off the bat? Car runs totally fine once started and the battery is fairly new. How hard are the starters to remove/replace on these cars. Mine has 170K miles on it and has never been touched. I'm probably going to tear it out and have it tested at AZ or whatever, but I couldn't find any write-ups or anything. I'm guessing it's at least a semi easy job?

If the starter cranks, there's no need to touch it. It's not the problem
If the engine takes a few cranks to start, then look to what causes an engine to run.
TPS
MAF
IAC
Vacuum leaks
Fueling
Plugs and wires

If any of these items appear to be in your original post, smack yourself twice for each of them. Because you really didn't say they were fixed, only "out" whatever the eff that means.

Fix known problems before you ask what could be wrong. Because at this point, I'm pretty sure the biggest issue is located between the steering wheel and seat. lol

Hahaha, smart @ss.

TPS, plugs, wires, are new. MAF is fairly new, and was cleaned about two weeks ago. Fair enough on the starter - I just wasn't sure if the coil could cause my prob or not.

Plugs are new... new but what brand, what gap, how new?
Wires?

Fuel pressure?
TPS reading?
MAF reading?

Any of these things can keep your car from starting. If you add a little throttle does it start?

Plugs are AL104's gapped to .055". They have like 3-4K miles on them. Wires are AZ Duralast wires - two weeks old.

I'll have to get back to you on fuel pressure and MAF reading because I just don't know.

I'll try the throttle thing too.

Question - if any of those things you mentioned above were faulty, wouldn't they manifest while driving also and not just starting?

Maybe..maybe not.

We can have a sensor for say MAF read very little air, which then turns off the injectors at start up. Hence.. no start. Once running, maybe it's enough air to keep the engine running. But at startup, things need to be in line.

Gotcha. K, I'll check out that other stuff when I get a chance. Thanks for the pointers.

What about the CPS? My car also has long start times like yours, and once in a while the tach goes to 0, TCS light comes on, but the car continues to run. I've read on here thats symptoms of a CPS going bad, but would that cause lengthened start times too?

I haven't experienced any of those symptoms. Just long starts. It cranks forever and then starts up totally fine without any issues after that.

Bingo. Fuel pump was bad (for anyone with similar problems).

thanks for following up.

Sure. I hate it when you're researching and find someone's thread with the exact same symptoms as you and then you never see what the fix/conclusion was.

Also, thank YOU (and everyone else) for the input on this thread - I appreciate it.

Welcome. It can be tough to diag over the internet. Glad you did some testing and found it.

Well as of yesterday the problem went beyond starting. Yesterday the car started dying after being started. New pump and it drives/starts like new.

FWIW, I find many pump checkballs that are bad and don't always cause issues. When a pump is weak and can't crank the pressure up in the system quick enough, that trick your buddy used will help for a while.

But..sooner or later the pump will likely die. Meanwhile..with a weak pump..is he running lean?