tsxcurity

I've had my 08 for about 2 months now. Since I first got the car I've notice it takes the engine around 6 turns during ignition before actually starting up, maybe even seven a few times. It just seems a little odd, my last car (and other peoples' cars) seem to turn over only 3-4 times before you need to release the key. I have noticed that this happens in the A.M. particularly and it does start right up (about 2-3 turns) if I just run into the store and come back out.

I figured I'd see if anyone could tell me why this is, or just share in the experience. How many times does your engine turn before ignition? Anyone willing to count next time your start up and get back to me gets a high five

SoCaliTrojan

I've had my car for 1.5 years...it takes 3 or 4 turns to start (errr...errr...err...vroom).

The TSX battery is known to be bad. Alot of people upgrade their batteries...

timd38

I have an 08 as well and noticed the same thing. I replaced the battery with an Optima, and it is no better.

nj2pa2nc

do not seem to have that problem on my 06 with the oem battery-starts great since new 11-17-06, now has 28,000+miles.

LuvMyTSX

It takes a few seconds, particularly when it's cold out. Makes me nervous sometimes, but it always eventually starts.

curls

It's been discussed here before, and it boiled down to a few things:
- ULEV (Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle) status means certain traits of the engine are different. This is one of them.
- High-compression engines take more juice to turn over. (New batteries rarely help with this -- I have first hand experience with this).

If it gets progressively worse, then look at changing the battery, but if it stays at around 5-6 turns before it catches, I'd consider that pretty normal for these cars.

dwest1023

I have an 06 and it sits for at least a week(have 3 cars) and with OE battery, seem like just 4 turns or less and vroom! I don't know it the other person has a real problem or not. Maybe the fuel pumps starts in late for some reason. All you need is spark, air and gas. I am sure the fist two are there as soon as the key is turned on.

Mskierki

Try turning the car on and letting it sit for a few seconds before trying to crank it over. That gives the fuel pump a chance to pressurize the system. I haven't noticed any problems with my 04 but winter hasn't hit Chicago just yet.

xjohnkdoex

iTrader: (2)

it takes 3-4 four turns for me as well, depending on if the car was sitting out over night, how cold it was, etc...

but once it's warmed up or if i've driven it around during the day at least once, it doesn't have that lag when it cranks up.

DVS-TSXER

mine is always different, sometimes i crank once and other times 2-3 crank but yeah I think it has something to do with emission system

thunder04

iTrader: (1)

For me, the car starts the hardest in the morning especially when it's cold. I think the most cranks I've counted were 6 (was cold enough to fog the instrument cluster!). I've got almost 85k on the car, so it doesn't really surprise me. After the first start in the morning, it start up in 2-3 cranks afterward. I think it's just a characteristic of a high compression 4 cylinder after sitting for an extended period of time and being dead cold. I could be wrong.

Do our cars come with platinum plugs?

Nothing can compete with my dad's '00 Sierra. It's got 200k on it and sounds like death when it's trying to start. I think it takes 10+ cranks sometimes for it to start (and of course my dad has to make it sound worse by doing 2-3 short cranks instead of one long one lol), but once it starts it runs as new. That's probably because my dad has 150k miles on his spark plugs, and 200k on the wires/coil packs.

Savio

is this a trick question?

synthetic

As mentioned before, try giving a couple of seconds after turning the switch ON before cranking it. The fuel pump takes a couple of seconds to initiate the pumping. This is a characteristic of most Hondas I've driven and due to the higher compression of this engine, it's just more noticable.

wrussi

mine when it was new it took forever to start -/+ 5 times now after 7 months its a little bit better.
i dont really think is due to compression as stated before. my sister's s2k which has more compression turns on faster and the 05-06 rsx-s which the compression is about the same as the k24 doesnt have this problem either. its weird but i really dont bother as long as its starts im good.

matvey

This has been discussed before. In order to reduce omissions, the ECU does not start the engine right away in order for warm up the O2 sensor (I think).

I personally HATE this "feature".

MBA

SoCaliTrojan

Yesterday I paid attention, and realized that my car starts a turn earlier than it used to (err...err...vroom). Maybe this was because I turned the key to start the engine immediately upon putting it into the ignition switch (ie: turned the key fast to start the engine...didn't go slowly like I usually do)

teamXXXrob

I've noticed the same slow start-up on our 04 TSX... so much slower than when i crank my 02 RSX-S.

Mskierki

How does not properly burning the fuel reduce emissions? The catalytic converter is what needs to be at a high temperature in order to reduce the NOx from the tailpipe.

I am still standing by my thought that it is a fuel delivery issue.

SoCaliTrojan

I don't mind the engine taking a few turns to start. We have a couple of cars that start the second you turn the key. You have to actually make sure it is only in the ON position for less than a second, or else you'll hear the grinding sound.

As for my TSX, the one issue I have is the number of turns the engine does after you turn the key to the OFF position. Once in a while, it'll turn a few extra times before the engine dies. This is a problem since I have a manual, and I sometimes leave it in gear while turning off the engine (with the clutch in). If I don't notice that the engine took longer to die, my car will jerk forward/backward since my releasing of the clutch has been timed to the usual engine die-off period.

jmty02

the other day I ran to Wawa to grab a quick lunch. I turned off the car, locked it, it beeped that the alarm went on, and I ran inside. I came out about 10 minutes later, unlock get in, and push the clutch in, turn the key, nothing. Turned again....nothing.

So I take the key out, wait about 10 seconds, do this push in the clutch, turn the key, and it started.

This happend to me probably a few months ago, too. I'm baffled on it.