For a while last fall and so far all this spring since i have had my car outa storage its had an issue starting. my car is a 1999 GT with the only mods being o/r h pipe and slp lm2 cat back. The car runs perfect once it is started. I used to be able to turn the key and it would crank a couple times in fire right up, but now I turn the key and it will crank and crank and crank and crank and then start up. Somtimes it even cranks so long that it gets overloaded with fuel and I get a big backfire like you would hear on a damn lawnmower! Any ideas of why this may be happening?

 

Bad A/F ratio? Could be so lean that it has problems starting up. <---Not likely. What's more likely is that you have a battery with crap cold cranking amps, so basically anytime it's cold/er you'll go through this. Doesn't sound like a dead or dying battery, but I bet you've got a summer only type of battery with really crappy cca.

 

you know thats what i initially thought, and now that you say it im thinking that could be it. I bought my car last summer from a guy in south carolina so maybe they did get a summer type battery or whatever. I just figured the battery was going bad and not giving the starter enough power.

 

Yeah, when the battery is dying it's usually a pretty clear noise. But if it helps calm your nerves, grab a multimeter (if you've got one) and just check it.

 

i would clean the IAC check the plugs and then move on to bigger things like the battery. i hope you know what a strong battery sounds like good cheap way to see is to turn on the dome light and if it dims a lot while cranking than your battery is taking a ****...not holding its charge overnight or something.

 

I think it's a good idea to check those, however, I don't think that's the culprit. If it were the IAC it'd likely idle funny, and if it were the plugs you'd hear it miss a cylinder...Doesn't hurt to check, though.

 

cheaper to check and inspect than it is to go out and purchase unnecessary parts. please excuse my fruggalness when it comes to troubleshooting with my own money...i dont live in my parents 1.5 million dollar home.

 

What a coincidence, neither do I. And I think a multimeter is just a handy thing to have around, that is all.

 

i never said that a multimeter was a bad purchase. i paid 30 bucks for mine and have used it lots of times. i just hope whoever has one knows how to use it properly.

Fuel filter is another thing that is on the chopping block. if you havent changed it in a while i would do so now.

also if the IAC is sticking it wont start, FYI.

 

He said it starts, just takes him a while. He also said it runs fine after it starts, which leads me to believe that it's not the IAC. But still a good idea to check and cleanup regardless. Fuel filter isn't a bad idea...

 

i replaced the IAC actually last summer, and the TPS was replaced at that time as well. The plugs were replaced right before I bought the car so within the last 10k miles. Fuel filter probably does need replaced though.

 

Multimeter tells you how much batterly you have left?

 

if you replaced it with a vato zone one than i wouldnt have much faith in it. my car used to hard start some days and i would cycle the starter for about 20 seconds before it would fire up. i ended up just putting in new plugs, new fuel filter, new OEM IAC. i have a supercharger so copper plugs are cheap fuel filter had 15k miles on it so it had to go and the IAC gave me problems before with sticking. i dont know what fixed my POS but the car fired right up after all of that stuff was replace. the only thing i didnt replace was my battery and i should have because that some bitch is old as ****.

good luck with finding the culprit.

 

no, an OCV meter will tell you what voltage and CCA's you have left in a battery and give you a message telling you if the battery just needs re-charge or has a dead cell/replace message.

your typical multi-meter will only give you the batteries current voltage reading.

 

What should the current voltage be at? I think I should do this. LOL

 

a good reading on a battery is 12.6-12.8 volts.

 

What if it's not reading that and how would you fix it? What could it do? My car doesn't have a problem starting up.

 

your battery is slowly losing its charge...probably will need to be reconditioned or recharged to fix it. If it starts your car than i wouldnt really worry about it.