Q: The car is hard to start after sitting for an hour
Hello. I have starting issues with my car that happen only when the car is not in motion for one or two hours. It takes the car up to 15 tries of engaging the ignition to start up. After that, the engine seems sluggish and makes a sputtering noise. There is also low idling at around 350 RPM on average. Once it didn't start at all after trying for more than ten times. The issue however, only occurs when the car sat for one or two hours and it doesn't depend on the outside temperature. Why is this happening? How can I fix this? I appreciate your help.
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Hello. There are several different things that could be causing your starting issue. There could be a bad spot in your starter which would make the vehicle hard to start. You could have an intermittent fuel pump problem which would decrease the amount of fuel that gets to the engine during startup. It is also possible that that your coolant temperature sensor is faulty. If the coolant temperature sensor is not reading the engine temperature correctly, the engine control module will not be able to adjust the fuel/air mixture properly. Have a certified technician, like one from YourMechanic, inspect of all of these systems and components in order to pinpoint your problem.
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