How's it going do it yourselfer, today I am going to give you a couple of tips on what
you can do to narrow down your problem if you have a car that needs to crank a couple
of times before it starts or it simply cranks forever before it actually starts and gets
going.
Alright so the first thing I recommend you do is to next time you get in your car and
try to start the engine to put in the key in the ignition and just cycle it on and off
a couple of times before you actually crank your engine.
And here is what I mean by cycling your key on and off a couple of times, basically as
you can see on here you have lock accessories ON and than Start so you put in your key and
turn it to the ON position which should be the second click, than you wait about 10 seconds
and than you turn your key to the left and than take it out, wait another 10 seconds
and than you just simply repeat the step two or three more times.
And than after the third time you cycle your key, you crank the engine and if your engine
starts right up that indicates you have a potential problem with your fuel pressure.
And that's because when we were cycling our key on and off we were basically priming our
fuel pump, making sure there's adequate pressure from our fuel pump all the way to our engine.
Now if everything is working properly you shouldn't have to do this because in your
fuel pump you usually have a check valve that when ever you turn off your car makes sure
the pressure that's inside your fuel line doesn't drop bellow a certain point.
Now before you go and change your fuel pump there's something else that could cause the
same issue, and that's your fuel filter, see the fuel from your fuel pump travels through
a fuel line goes through your fuel filter and from there to your intake manifold and
than to your injectors and your engine.
Now if you have a clogged or partially clogged fuel filter that's going to keep away the
necessary psi of pressure you need in your fuel line to your injectors that you would
need to get your engine going.
Now if you really want to narrow down your problem between the fuel filter and the fuel
pump, I would recommend you use one of these.
And this is a fuel pressure gauge that's going to tell you exactly how many psi of pressure
you have in your fuel line.
What you'll need to do is to insert your pressure gauge before and after your fuel filter and
than compare the readings, and if the readings after the fuel filter is a lot lower than
that could potentially indicate a clogged or partially clogged fuel filter.
Now if you find that cycling the key ON and OFF a couple of times before you try to start
your car makes no difference and the car is still cranking a bunch of times before it
actually starts, well in that case the most likely culprit is going to be your ignition
system.
So basically you could have old or fouled up spark plugs which are not producing a strong
enough spark for your engine to start, or you might have old or worn out spark plug
wires that are not allowing enough voltage to reach your spark plugs producing a strong
enough spark.
Also if you have a distributor ignition system, there is a chance that your distributor and
cap and rotor are worn out, and therefore again effecting the strength of the spark
that comes out of your spark plugs.
So the next step would be to remove your spark plugs and take a close look at them, and see
whether they are worn our or not.
And if you are unsure on how to do that I put a link to a video I made recently on how
you can exactly do that on this side of the screen, also put a link to another video down
here on how you can go about testing your spark plug wires as well.
But it's a good idea if there's any indication that your spark plugs are worn to replace
both your spark plugs and your spark plug wires at the same time.
Now besides problems with your ignition and fuel systems here are some other things that
could cause a hard starting condition.
A dirty or clogged air filter is difinately going to keep enough air from entering your
engine, therefore causing your to have trouble when starting your car.
So you should go ahead and remove your air filter and than inspect it and if it's too
dirty than you should difinately go ahead and replace it.
Now besides a dirty air filter, a dirty throttle body or idle air control valve could also
cause you to have a hard time starting your car.
And if you feel like that could be your problem than fear non, you can check out this video
I'll put a link to it right here, in that video I go over how you can exactly clean
a throttle body and Idle air control valve.
Now beside your throttle body being dirty, a bad throttle position sensor could also
have a hard time starting your car.
Also another sensor that could cause the same problem is a MAF sensor, which if your car
is equipped with either goes right on your air filter box or on this air tube that goes
from your air filter box to your intake manifold.
Now a quick tip I can give you is to before you start your car if you are having a hard
time starting your car, to go ahead and disconnect the connector that goes to either your maf
sensor or your throttle position sensor if you suspect a problem with either of them,
and than if your car starts right up than you more than likely have a problem with that
sensor.
See both your throttle position sensor and your MAF sensor are responsible for telling
your computer how much air is entering your engine, therefore letting it calculate the
Air Fuel mixture properly, and than what happens when you remove the connector from these sensors
is that your computer goes to some pre set parameters regarding the signal that is supposed
to receive from these sensors and than if your car starts easier that's going to indicate
a problem with one of these sensors.
Now obviously removing the connector from these sensors is not a bullet proof testing
procedure for these sensors but there is a way that you can just by using a simple multimeter
that you can buy for a few bucks at local auto parts store test these sensors, and yep
you guessed right I have a video on how you can do that and I'll put a link to this side
of the screen again for you to check out as well there will also be links down in the
description box down bellow.
Alright so I know that was a bunch of sensors and different components that could effect
a hard starting condition but if I had to go from the most likely culprit to the least
likely I would say start off with your spark plugs your spark plug wires distributor cap
and rotor and from there a dirty air filter to a dirty throttle body or an idle air control
valve.
Alright that should cover it for this video, hope you liked the video if you did please
give it a thumbs up subscribe if you want to see more like it and I'll see you next
time, thanks for watching.