Last week we discussed car start problems in our #troubleshoottuesday segment and we hope it helped anyone having starting issues out. This week we want to touch on providing you with troubleshooting tips for when your car starts up, but it is hard to start. What do we mean by hard to start? Well, you put the key in the ignition and turn it over and you hear the engine chugging and chugging but not firing up right away like it used to. Maybe you have to flip the key on and off a couple of times because the motor keeps turning over but refuses to catch. The important difference between last weeks car start problems and this weeks hard to start troubleshooting, is that the car does in fact fire up, it just has difficulty.
Possible Hard To Start Engine Causes
When having problems with your car, always scan the engine first to see if it is throwing a code. If it is, the code will always point you in a general direction with where to start your diagnostics. Failing having an engine code, you can try looking at the following:
- Is your battery charged up enough? A weak battery can sometimes give the vehicle enough juice to crank slowly, but not enough to get the job done. Typically you won’t have much juice to keep trying this. If this describes your issue please see our car start problem troubleshooting tips
- Have you checked your battery connections? The battery terminals are free of corrosion? Positive / negative cables are in good shape and hooked up? All ground wires are connected and not pinched or broken?
- Have you verified that you do not have a vacuum leak? All hoses running to the engine are in good shape and not cracked?
- Have you checked to make sure your air filter is clean and not clogged?
- Have you tried cleaning your Mass Air Flow (MAF) Sensor if your vehicle is equipped with one?
- Do you have proper fuel pressure?
- If no, are you sure that your fuel filter and fuel pump are ok?
- If yes, are your fuel injectors clogged?
- Does your vehicle have a body control module like the F-body does? It may be having intermittent issues – especially if this happens more often when it is hot or cold. If you have an F-body you can follow these steps to repair your F-body BCM
- Have you checked your spark plugs? Worn or fouled plugs will cause hard to start engine issues.
- Have you checked your exhaust manifold / headers for cracks or leaks? Generally you will hear your vehicle will be louder if there is an exhaust leak. Exhaust leaks very close to the engine and before the O2 sensors can create rough running and hard to start conditions especially when it is cold outside.
We hope the above troubleshooting tips help you diagnose if your vehicle has a hard to start engine problem. We plan on adding some more troubleshooting tips to our readers weekly.
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