Long cranks and engine struggling to start. Please help!
 

Hello guys, I am experiencing this issue since last week, Whenever I parked the car for about 1-2 hours and get back to start the car, sometimes it start fine sometimes it cranks for a long 5secs and struggle to start but it will fire.

If the car parked overnight and starting the car it just start right away (0.5 - 1sec) It seems weird I cannot replicate the issue it just goes randomly when car is parked for a few hours and starting it back.

The car is Automatic and have push start button,
No modifications only Invidia N1.
Car is 2014 Model.

I read some forums that I need to prime my fuel pump first for (2-5sec) by pushing the start button twice then fire it up. I can live with this but since owning the car way back 2014, I am used to start up the car without priming the fuel.

Already checked on this forums some other have similar issues but no solutions or feedback how to fix it. If anyone encountered this and have a fix or speculations please help. :thanks:

- Battery is tested healthy
- Alternator tested while idle giving 14v+

My understanding is you need 4 things:
Spark
Fuel
Air
Compression

I would start with the easiest first, maybe someone else has some tips. But I would check fuel and spark

Mine does this from time to time. I notice it most on quick short trips

How do you live with it or fix it?

i grew up on a car that destroyed it's own engine mounts calmly driving around town, randomly puked transmission fluid, leaked oil at a rate fast enough i didn't need to change it, just keep adding new oil, the a/c never worked, the heat stopped working after the 2nd year, and the convertible top only kept the big rain drops out.

after that, your priorities change. if it starts, it starts. not worth messing with.

Up

How many miles on your car? If it's over 50,000 miles, and you haven't changed the spark plugs, you may consider doing that.

Have you changed the source of your fuel lately? Maybe it got hold of some "bad gas".

Mine has 140,000 km, did a Major service at 90,000 with sparks plugs and injectors replacement (covered by warranty) .

Fuel is consistent since day one, I only topup with the best fuel here in UAE (98 Special) Already refuel twice from empty to full. And still long cranks occasionally happens.

Hahaha too relatable. My first car was a 1989 Subaru GL Wagon. It leaked so much oil I just had to keep replacing it. The odometer stopped working before I got it at 232k miles. It always started though; ended up giving it away to a friend for his first car.

Like @humfrz said. At least pull the plugs and see what they tell you. You can learn a lot about your motor from just reading the plugs. Does that 90k service include coils?

I am not sure if coils are included on the Major services, But they change the sparks plugs and replaced the injectors (covered by warranty).

I think that would be a good first step. Take an hour or so and pull the plugs and see what they say. If everything is good there you can move on to other things. My next thought would be fuel somewhere. Maybe your pump is getting tired and it gets hot after a drive and doesn't want to build pressure. If you've got any way to check your fuel pressure that might be worth a check. Hope you get it figured out and it's something silly and easy dude

^

I second this. Pull your spark plugs and see what they look like. You can always upload a picture of your plugs so we can see.

So funny story but just this last week my car started behaving very similarly to this. After a drive the car cranks for a few seconds before firing up then send to run ok. Over night three car starts fine in the morning. I just assumed it was the heat and humidity but when I pulled up the live data it looks like my fuel pressure is lower than I remember. It's foggy now but I seem to remember about 60psi at the fuel rail but now I'm only seeing about 40. Anyone know if our cars have an inline fuel filter i can pull to check or just the sock in the tank?

Update: Delicious is sending me new fuel pressure & flex fuel sensors to see if it's just a simple sensor gone bad. Will update after I swap them.

Inline filter is in the tank(in the basket driver side LH) the fuel pump sits in the middle of it.



Sounds like a leaking injector. Since it starts better after it sits, gas has time to evaporate instead of flooding the engine.

Hahaha... Never underestimate the power of bad experiences... Most of the noises and small dings do not bother me 2day, because I grew up driving such turds, that, if it didn't stall on me on a trip, i felt like a king.... The most fun "issue" i had with a car was, my first car (all being manual/stick) would stall every time i ¸pushed the clutch (so, when gearbox inertia was not keeping it running), and now and then i lost all gears but third, and had to get out of the car, and click a little rod on the shifter in place, luckily it was right next to the exhaust manifold, so i burnt my f***ing hand every f***ing time... Ah yes, the central locking didn't allways work, and sometimes it locked itself, regardless of where the keys were, and yes, the sunroof leaked water like niagara falls.... And now people ask me sometimes if i get upset over a little squeak, or a plastic panel not fitting 100%... Dude, if it's running, i'm smiling

I tried the new sensors but got the same readings so my next step was to dive into the tank again and check on the pump after I ran low on fuel again. To my surprise that came just under ⅛ tank of fuel indicated.
So I pulled it open and lo and behold the o-rings on the girl pump had been crushed and was allowing fuel to leak out of the line. I went and got some new fuel safe o-rings and then modified the spacer that was included in the Deatschwerks pump kit to fit under the 3 new o-rings. This time on install I could clearly feel the 3 individual rings seating inside.
Fired right up and all seems to be well now. Glad to have that issue out of the way.