My car has been having inconsistent starts lately. On cold starts (car sits overnight or a few days) sometimes it fires right up, other times it will crank for 2-3 seconds then start. Somtimes it won't start on the first try but will fire right up on the second. And more recently, it takes a few cranks to start and only does start awkwardly when let go of the key.

Just tonight... After driving around for about 20-25 mins (breaking in the new gear) I shut it off and let it sit outside my house while I went to open the garage door to bring it in. When I started it back up, it took a few cranks and only started when I let go of the key, and when it did start it idled at about 2000 RPM. I thought it would come down but it was like this for about 5 sec. and I decided it was enough and shut it off. Afterwards it started right up and idled fine

Besides the start car runs and drives fine from what I can tell just cruising around town.


This all sort of coincides with my new fuel pump install, but I don't think it's the fuel pump. I hear it priming everytime and when I turn the key to the ON position, I immediately get about 41 psi of fuel pressure on the FP gauge.

I thought it might be leaky injectors though since the pressure does die off kind of fast after I shut the car off (after a few minutes I start to lose psi on the gauge) and also my oil does kind of smell like gas at the dipstick (although a slight gas smell is normal right? so not sure about that) And maybe the new fuel pump triggered this somehow?

What else could it be? Maybe not fuel related? IAC??

Thanks for the help.

 

Fuel smell in the oil is not normal. That should be addressed first and formost. Only explanations for it are a dead cylinder(s), stuck fuel injector or bad FPR diaphragm. Although in some cases, fuel dripping in the intake when the engine is off could create a starting issue, I don't think it is the cause of your starting issue. You didn't complain of rough running thus eliminating a dead cylinder. You haven't complained of really poor fuel mileage or foul odors or black smoke or even fouled plugs.

The starting issue when you let off the key sounds like you have an ignition switch issue. I would focus on looking at power lines that should be hot in both the start position as well as the run position. The first that comes to mind is the pink wires coming down the column from the switch. They supply the injector fuses, the ignition fuse and the PCM fuse with power. Pull out the theft detterent relay while you check the pink wires for voltage dropping out at the start position and possibly returning in the run position of the switch. If you pull the relay, the starter won't crank when you turn the power on at the start position of the ignition switch.

 

Well the diaphragm is good I checked that too. I don't have a dead cylinder all are firing. As for the fuel mileage, foul odor, etc. I've had some of those symptoms, but then again I swapped the cam and am running an offroad pipe with no cats. Maybe I will check my sprkplugs then and see what they look like.


Ok so if I understand, all I need to do is check for voltage drop when I turn the key to ON and that would indicate a faulty ignition switch? would I just need to check/replace the wires or the actual switch? Thanks for the help.