well, every so often when i try to start my car it wont do it, it would do it on the second try.. this would happen maybe 2-5 times a month.. yesterday i got home from school, ate and was going back out and i went to start the car and it wouldnt.. i would turn the key and i would hear it almost start (i would feel a little rumble) and it would just die.. finally turned on on the 4th try..does this mean i need a new starter or something else?

 

not a starter but r u throwin any codes?

 

naw, the only problem my car ever really had was when i had it scanned and it said like engine misfire cylinder 2 or somethin.. but it never came back

 

bump.. helpp me

 

I am having a simillar problem. Intermittently it will turn over and over, but wont start, and in order to get it to, you have to hold the pedal to the floor (which closes the injectors). Its not really a problem for me, but more of an annoyance, and I would like to figure out what would fix this problem. So help this guy and I out!

 

I had a very similar problem, after I would let the car sit warm for about 10 min then it would crank but not start. I changed my coolant temp. sensor (like $7 part) and it hasn't done it since. don't ask me why the cts had anything to do with it, but it fixed it.

 

The CTS tells the ECU if the engine is warm or cold, and the ECU meters the fuel appropriately.

lilbrownindian, do you find you only have the problem with the car warm or cold? (Warm meaning, having been driven recently, cold meaning sitting for several hours/overnight)? If that's the case, I'd suspect the CTS.

If you have to floor the gas to get it to start, the engine is probably flooding. If a faulty CTS tells the ECU that a warm engine is cold, this can happen. Pop a new CTS in and see if it solves the problem.

 

when my car does it, it doesnt seem to matter if it is warm or cold, its just a completely random issue, and if you go back by the exhaust it smells like fuel before it does start, I was told it could be something to do with security because my hood is messed up and in the wind it could (in theory) be pushing the hood pin for the alarm up and down, but then I also heard it could be my "ECC" which I've never heard of, I was thinking maybe ECU/ECM is what the person meant to say. It seems like it just dumps fuel the minute I turn the key, and I have to turn it over until the fuel is forced out of the cylinders, and also when it does this it throws a "Left bank running rich" code, or something to that effect my buddy with a Snap-On scan tool told me, however we can't figure out the direct cause of the problem. Its going to the body shop Monday, to get the front end fixed, so I'll either be able to eliminate the hood theory, if it stops, or know that if it continues, it can't be the reason.

EDIT: I posted this before the post above, but now that you mention that it does make perfect sense. I will replace mine this weekend, and report back. Only thing is, with the CTS wouldn't a bad one make the gauge fluctuate? Mine hasn't so thats kinda confusing me.

 

It wouldn't be security or the hood switch. The only thing security-related that would prevent engine starting is the immobilizer, which is tied to the chip in the keyfob. And if it was that, the engine would start for a second and then quit, and the key icon would flash in the instrument panel.

If you smell fuel and have to floor it, it's flooding. It's probably a bad CTS, MAF (mass air flow sensor), or possibly a bad ECU (though unlikely). Try the CTS first, it's the cheapest fix. Another possibility is a faulty injector.

The running rich code would be related to the problem too, since the engine would be running rich when it first starts up due to the excessive fuel in the cylinders.

EDIT: I believe the gauge is controlled by a different sensor, but I could be wrong.

 

Understandable, and thats what I thought too, that it was flooding.... I will replace the CTS along with doing a tune-up (im sure the plugs aren't in that great of shape, seeing as how they have experienced this a good 3 dozen or so times now). Thanks for the help... its much appreciated.