hey guys, i just got my new TL-s about a month and half ago. all in all, im rather enjoying this car. Im just wondering if im being paranoid or if there may be something wrong. every once in a while, usually on cold starts... when im trying to start my car, it seems like it struggles to starts, but then it starts. i took it to the dealer... first they said it was cause the battery cable was loose. but it happened again. so i took it in again... they couldn't find anything wrong. Now.. first question... is anyone or has anyone experienced this? and any guesses on what it could be? friend told me that it maybe be a bad spark plug. help me out.

 

this has been discussed before.. the majority of the people on this board was told by the dealer that during the winters, gas company adds chemicls to their gas in order to keep it good. The TL doesnt recognizes it and sometimes will hesistate on starting even not starting at all.....

 

My dealer told me before starting the engine, let the key in ACCESSORIES position for 10-15 seconds to battery current run up in the car. It helps.

 

thx guys. apparently the service guys at the dealer around my place doesn't know too much.

 

This works not because of anything it does to the battery. You do this to "pre-prime" the fuel pump. The pump is electric and if you just crank from a dead start, you're asking the pump to power up and deliver fuel at the same time the motor is asking for fuel. Turning the key to the "run" position (the II on the ignition--not the accessories position) for a few seconds first allows the pump to start and deliver fuel to the engine before the engine is calling for it. Note that the fuel pump is not activated in the accessories position so turning it one click won't help you do anything.

The hard-starting problem seems to manifest itself with a warm engine (not hot and not cold). Supposedly something to do with the high compression engines. I've seen this on mine. It always vigorously cranks but when warm sometimes needs an extra second or two of cranking before catching. Chrism785, if your car is either not turning over, or if you have to try and start it more than once then it could be a problem. But if it just seems like it takes longer to catch than you're used to from previous cars, this appears to be normal for our cars.

 

Pianoman, my car starts... just sometimes.. and when i mean sometimes.. maybe 1 in 70 starts or so.. it takes a split second longer to start. thats it.

 

I wouldn't worry about it then...