Just found this message board, glad I did.

I have a 2004/AT/Black/Camel leather.

I have around 8200 miles, use 91 octane.

Since I bought the vehicle, I have consistently had trouble with the car starting the first time I crack under the following scenario:

1. Drive the car for a while, until the engine is warmed up. If I let the car sit for 45 minutes to an hour, it will not start the first time. If I crank it again, it sputteres and then starts. If the car sits for 2-3 hours or more, it starts. I can't count how many times this has happened. Must be at least once a week. I have read about one other person on this board having this problem. Does anyone have any idea what could be causing this. I really pissed about it! $35k car that doesn't start when it should. Geez it's just plain embarassing. If I wanted to embarass my self, I could have bought a KIA and saved myself a lot of money.. hehe

:ar15:

 

Welcome to the board. I have had this happen one time in six weeks. After a few cranks, probably three about three seconds each, it started. Not sure what the cause is. If it's repeatable in your car the dealer might have a shot at figuring it out.

 

Not sure this is what you guys are talking about...sounds like your problem is worse.

But its normal for the car to crank a little longer than normal every now and then due to ULEV emissions trying to pull some of the built up vapors back into the engine for burn. It is not stated in the manual but it is stated in the setup guide (or whatever that spiral bound book is).

My 2002 Acura MDX which is also ULEV does this on occassion and by no means is there anything wrong with this fine auto.

Another thing to check out, do you use gas from the same place. Try a different gas station, see if problems still persists.

 

yup i have been having that problem for a few months also. it only happened once in a while but it will seem like it started and when i let off of the key it will die. i called my dealer and the service writer asked if i had a big metal keychain, i told him the only metal on my key ring is the ring itself, keys(5), and the small acura keychain they gave me when i bought the car, he tolded me to lose the ring for awhile and see if it gets better. inside our key is a chip and he said that too much metal can mess with it....well the outcome... three weeks without the keychain, and i have not had a problem. maybe he was right, or maybe i have been getting lucky ,but worth a shot.

 

yea i bought it to the dealer and they kept it for 2 weeks 2 different times. they changed the whole cpu system for me, and now it has gotten a lot better.

 

Thanks for the replies everyone! I have two metal keys and a brass keyring the dealer gave me. Maybe I will remove these from the key chain. I have used gas from every gas station around, so it should not be the gas.

 

This has happened to me intermittenlty, but I I don't use the car again within a short perood that often, so I suspcet it will happen more. Get used to it the 04 TL is full of first year problems (no flames please, IMHO), rattles, squeaks, tires, headliner. By far the worst first year car I ever owned.

 

The service manual says (on page 22-325):
"Due to the action of the immobilizer system, the engine takes slightly more time to start than vehicle's without an immobilizer system"

 

The delay is mostly the ULEV system. This has happened to me once or twice with this car in 8200 miles. Acura has used this system for some time; my 2G TL did this occasionally as well. It is a minor, occasional annoyance. I'm amazed that a service department would keep a car for two weeks, twice, for this issue! Do they not read the manual?

 

I found a way to avoid the 3 or more cranks to get the engine started.
Turn the key to the on position, once the fuel gauge shows a reading(about the time it takes to put on the seatbelt), start the engine.
It will start in one crank, hot or cold.

 

This works for me too. I had the problem a few times right after I got it (back in February) when trying to start it quick like my old car. Since I have been turning the key to ON and waiting a couple seconds, haven't had the problem again.

 

Owner's Manual pg. 81:

The system may not recognize your key's coding if another immobilizer key or other metal object (i.e. key fob) is near the ignition switch when you insert the key.

 

Turn the key to "on" wait 3 seconds then crank, "problem solved!!!" it takes a couple of seconds for the electronics and the fuel system to prime. Not a problem at all!

 

Is th ON position #1 or #2 (#3 is actually starting the car).?

 

2

 

 

I just bought my 5AT Navi with 6 miles on it. It hapened at the dealership and almost every day since. I will try the "2" method and see if that helps.

 

My Dad's '04 Pilot and sisters '03 V6 Accord all have the same problem every once and a while.

 

hayabusa99,

Are you still having this problem with the key in #1?

 

I had this happen to me only once. And god damn Murphy's law: I had a really hot chick with me. How embarassing

Hasn't happened since. It seems waiting 3 seconds between position II and starting helps.

 

I had that problem too. when I wanted to quickly start either hot or cold.

 

 

clarify please, you haven't had a hot chick since, the start thing, or both

maybe u lost the hot chick cause of the start thing.... or maybe not

?????

 

I contacted the a very informative service department manager at the dealership that I purchased my car from. I explained the hesitation in starting when the engine was hot. He explained that it was most likely a combination of two things - fuel mixture, and a minor form of vapor lock. Winter fuel mixtures contain anti-freeze addatives to prevent fuel line freeze-up in cold weather. These additives cause the fuel to have a lower boiling point. When you park a car with the engine hot, and try to restart it, the fuel in the injectors and fuel rails is vaporized. The fuel pump must replace this fuel vaport with cool liquid fuel before the engine will run properly. This is why the probelm does not occur when you leave the key in position II for a few seconds before starting - it allows the fuel pump to re-populate the fuel lines with liquid fuel. Cold starts are not affected because the fuel vapor condenses back to liquid form when it cools. This vaporizing of the fuel is most extreme in the spring when gas stations still have remnant winter fuel in them from the winter, and the weather is beginning to heat up. Also note - BP stations have the quickest turn-around for fuel in the spring. They mix fuel in 10 day supply batches - much smaller than competitors.

 

I'm reading this right out of the manual ....

"At times, the engine may take longer to start than usual; the engine management software is working to reduce emissions at startup."

I think that pretty much explains it.

 

Well, I have tried this work around and it didn't work for me. Even after leaving the key to ON position for a while, my car still has the same extended cranking problem...

But it's good to know it works for some of you...

 

check my response a few days ago under "HARD START" I suffered from this and now it fires immediatly without me touching the gas pedal like ALL CARS should.

 

Thanks hootie, the dealer had already replaced my fuel pump. In fact, that was the first thing it did to try to alleviate my problem. Didn't help. Turning the key to ON position for a while first also doesn't help...

If anyone else has a different suggestion, I would like to hear it. Thx.

 

its all bs. i got a new fuel pump. it fires when i turn the key without touching the gas pedal as all performance cars should. go get a new fuel pump and don't believe the manual or the dealer.