My car had trouble starting for the first time. I know ulev and all that so we wont even get into that. My question is does this adversely effect the engine at all? How long should you let it crank before giving up? How long should you wait before attempting to start again? Thanks

 

It depends.....do you use Zaino?

 

hell no, zaino sux and is the answer to NO problems
haven't even washed it once

 

From my local service techs, I was told that it does not have an adverse effect on the engine. They said to let it turn over for 5 seconds or so and then turn the key to off. Then they said it would be ok to start right up again and every single time it has fired right up.

I'm sure if you poll 100 techs you would get 100 different answers.

 

:lol1:

 

totally normal

 

I am well aware it is normal, that wasn't the question

 

No, you don't understand moreace. It's normal.

BJ

 

Just turn the ignition to the ON position for a few seconds before you start the car and you'll be fine

 

This also has happened to me 3 times in 3 weeks. It seems to happen when the car is sitting for about 15 minues. Why is this normal? Dealer told me it's not normal and i should bring it in.

 

my wifes 03 accord does the same thing, although less so today than a year ago when it was brand new. the manual says to crank it for ten seconds or so which i rarely do, the only bad thing that could happen is that you over heat the starter - this would be a pretty RARE occurance. anyway, starting in -20 below weather hasn't been a problem for the honda (haven't had the tl long enough to know it's cold weather start habits), hell one winter it got down to -34 below here and over half the cars in the twin cities area would not start, aaa was backed up 3 days, our honda started fine.

 

Be careful not to let it crank too long, or you will burn out the starter motor, it is not designed for constant use.

I have had to try starting up to 4 times (did this 5 times over the last 6 months) to get it to go, this blows.

 

My TL has been doing this more frequently:

1) This weekend, I tried starting it and it kept turning and turning and turning until I finally gave up after about 5 or 6 seconds -- i thought the TL was equipped w/ some sort of anti-theft ignition lock-out system, but i knew it didn't after I thought about it. Started right up the second attempt.

2) This has been happening far more frequently: I'll start the car up and it'll slooooowly start spinning up to idle speed as if I need to give it some gas to get it churning fast enough.

It's so annoying that it doesn't always start confidently like my Maxima does .. am I right in saying that ULEV has something to do w/ this?

 

I'll see what the dealer says as I'm taking it in next week. It's no fun when you just buy a new car and you wanna drive someone around but you can't start the car. I'll keep you guys updated next week. If anyone else has taken it in for this issue what did the service tech say?

 

Sup all... Happend to stumble onto this forum by accident. Great forum!!! Im glad that I wasn't the only one having trouble starting my new TL! I called several Acura service centers in my area and no one had seemed to hear about any owners having problems starting their TL's. I was told by several techs that this was a normal function with ULEV's but this is not true and don't believe it for a second. I finally found a tech that agreed with me that this is not normal. The problem was trying to duplicate the problem because it's not something that happens on a consistent basis. I made an appointment with the service tech to test out my TL and see if we could find the root to the problem. I don't want to go into details of what happend but here's what we found out. The tech was able to duplicate the problem and with some further investigation, he found out that the problem originates in the brain(computer) of the car. Just so happens that there is an update that can be applied to the computer. I've had my TL back for over 2 weeks without a re-occurance of a problem that I was having at least 3-4 times a week before taking it in. If anyone lives in the SoCal area and is having this problem, I recommend taking it to Montclair Acura. Their service was great and they were willing to do their best to fix my problem.

 

i took mine into the dealer and they told me it could be a similar problem that they've found on the MDXs (there's a service bulletin documented on it at the dealer). supposedly there is a code on your key that needs to have a "handshake" with your car in order to start it. thats why they say to turn the key to the II position for a second or two and then crank the engine. this allows time for the handshake to take place and then you should be able to start the car with no problems. i haven't had a problem since i've been doing that (2 weeks).

 

ULEV has nothing to do with the problem. That is more an emissions thing, a clean burning engine.

 

I currently have 2004 TL, but my old 2000 TL had the same problem. I happened only when I had frequent stop and restarting the engin and when the weather was warm. What they told me initially was that when we use winter fuel, since I am located in Chicago, and weather gets warmer, then some fuel gets condensated in the engine. Initially they told me to wait until all gases are summerized. Then there was a service bulletin out for this fix for previous generation of TL. They replaced some kind of fuel pipe or tube if I remember correctly. Ask your service manager about this issue.

It may be related.

 

If you wait 4 seconds on "on" before cranking, it should start on the first turn. If it doesn't something ain't right.

 

Here are some possible causes to hard starting if you jump in and crank the engine immediately:

ULEV rating is achieved by reducing the normally very rich fuel mixture at startup. This is when most dirty emissions happen. You remember the old "choke"? That was to have more gas/less air to facilitate starting a cold engine. It often caused black exhaust from the rich mixture. Acura's computer backs way off of that so that a trade off is made, of sorts, between immediate, consistant one-touch starts and an Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle rating.

It's true that there is a hand-shaking process and an ignition immobilizer aspect to the security system Even if you have the right key cut, the engine won't start until it recognizes YOUR key. That takes a second or so.

Some cars' fuel line pressure bleeds down after inactivity. It takes a second or so for the fuel pump to build pressure back up to the injectors.

And, finally, something could be wrong with the engine or the computer control unit. This is the least likely but still possible. The "black boxes" are solid state so, if they work from day one, they should continue to do so. No moving parts. But, "$hit happens".

From the day I picked my new TL up (Friday), I have turned the ignition on and then waited a moment while I bucked my seat belt. THEN, I crank it over and it starts within one second or less everytime. That IS NOT as fast as my old Maxima- but my old Max was not ULEV. However, it is an acceptable trade off as far as I'm concerned. I'm not going to lose sleep over it.

And, lastly, are any of you stepping on the gas before or during the start up procedure? If so, stop it. The gas pedal is not linked to the "throttle" in a mechanical way. It is drive-by-wire. You are making a request to the computer module when you step down. The computer knows the conditions at startup and doesn't need your help. Save your pedaling for your mountain bike.

In summary, there is so much electronic interplay going on in the TL, we need to give it just a second or two to get it's $hit together before cranking.

Anyhow, that's how I see it. Just IMHO.

XP