Why does my car have trouble starting after very short trips?
Example: Yesterday afternoon I had to move my car from one side of the street to the other. Start the car - move to other side of street - shut car off - about 30 seconds of total running time. When I got in my car this a.m. and turned the key, it did not start immediately as it normally does. The engine turned over a good 8-10 times before actually starting.
I’m assuming it is not something unique to this vehicle, as I’ve noticed the same problem with both my wife’s car and previous vehicles I’ve owned.
Is it some issue involving the fuel injection, or something else?
My guess would be the battery is dying, and is holding just enough charge to give you one good start. After you’ve driven a bit, the battery has had time to recharge enough to give you a good clean start. But if you’ve only had the car on a short time, it hasn’t had enough time to recharge fully (and here “fully” means “a small fraction of what a good battery will hold”) and your next start is labored.
This is a brand new car - I’ve had it 3 weeks - so I’m fairly certain it’s not a battery issue. Also, as I stated, I’ve had this experience with other vehicles - none of them exhibited any kind of battery problems.
The starter does turn the engine without difficulty, it just takes longer than normal for it to actually start. I’m assuming it has something to do with the fuel injectyion as the symptoms are similar to those that might be exhibited if the engine wasn’t getting any fuel, or perhaps had been flooded.
I’m not physically doing anything other than turning the key (not pumping the gas or even touching the gas pedal).
I agree that it sounds like its being flooded (or possibly not getting enough fuel), but is this somehow a (normal?) product of the very short run time?
clogged fuel filter? Bad gas maybe? My car was doing the same thing -it would turn over, but “putter out” or die immediately after the starter caught. My mechanic changed the fuel filter and told me to get my gas other than where I had been. It’s much better now.
Ummmm…thanks, but that’s not the same thing. My car is not ‘puttering’ and doesn’t die out, it just takes an unusually long time for it to actually start.
And again, it’s a new car, it only happens after I’ve run it for a very short period of time (<30 sec.), and I’ve experienced it with other vehicles. So, unless I have a knack for chosing vehicles that mysteriously develop the exact same ailment, I’m guessing that its not a mechanical problem but something inherent to the fuel delivery system of modern vehicles (fuel injection) that gets ‘confused’ when run for a very short period of time.
On an older design carbureted car, pumping the gas pedal can result in flooding, but it’s irrelevant with fuel injected vehicles. I agree with Madness.
Probably. The electronic control system provides extra fuel to start a cold engine. It’s not really expected that the engine will only be run for 30 seconds, so its programming may not be geared towards that.
Many cars’ programming strategies do have a “clear flood” mode, which shuts off injection of fuel if the gas pedal is held to the floor while the starter is being cranked. Next time you have a situation where the car is likely to have flooded from a short run time, try starting it that way and see if it helps.
I heard the same problem on “Car Talk” last week. On short trips carbon builds up on the spark plugs. Since the car is never running very long the carbon never burns off. I believe this is your problem not flooding. If your moving the car short distances it needs to warm up for about ten minutes. This can occur with new or old models. Hope this helps. Laters
While carbon can build up, it would take alot of low rev time for the engine to foul the plugs. A short jaunt across the street wouldn’t do it.
If the trip is just 30 secs, you might be driving some relays nuts…like computer management related to emissions, or fule pump relays.
Sounds crazy, but turn the key to accesory, or the first turn before you actually crank the engine and let it sit there about ten seconds before you crank it (when you are just hopping across the street or on very short trip).
Second crazy point: possible the fuel is not primed up after just 30 secs of run time, so that you don’t have a full uniterrupted flow from tank to engine. Old school is to rev the engine a little bit, let it return to idle and then turn 'er off.