My friend has a 94 Z/28, about 87,000 miles. its bone stock, was owned by the legendary old lady. anyway, its always been slow to start. It would turn over slowly once, amybe twice, then crank right up. Now, when its hot, it will turn over 6 or 7 times, slowly, like when the battery's dieing before it starts. any ideas what this could be?

 

Well, as you said, the first thing to test would be the battery.

 

Take to Sears and let them check the bat,charging and starter.

 

A weak battery will cause a slow crank.

 

why would it have problems starting after running for a while though? my experience with bad batterys is a bitch to start in the morning, but fine after the first start. Its been like this since he bought it in May, and it just started getting worse.

ph, and he jsut told me that when it gets hot, it will misfire sometimes.

 

My car, when it was stock, used to crank very slowly. The older the car got the worse it started. After running a car for a while the starter heats up along with everything else. Once the starter gets heat soaked it will crank even more slowly. I put a new gear reduction starter off a '94 vette and the car cranks better than ever. Its a direct replacement for the stock direct drive starter that F-bodies come with. I also bought an Optima red top, I'll never buy another brand of battery. Get the battery and starter checked out, if they need replacement I'd reccomend the combo I went with. As for misfiring, I wouldn't think its related to slow cranking. Good luck to him.

-Pete-

 

It could be multiple issues, but I can practically guarantee that one of those issues is a dying battery.

 

Im the owner of the car, I should put a video up on youtube so you can see what I mean, its hard to explain.

 

Still, you should check that out to make sure its not a problem. Its a simple thing to rule out and could be causing most of your problem.

 

Will do, i can get the battery tested right around the corner from my house pretty much.

 

Drive the car to AutoZone. Walk in, tell them your car is slow to start and that you'd like to have your battery and alternator tested. They'll do the rest.

Come back and tell us what you found out. If the battery and alternator are fine, then we'll keep troubleshooting.

 

Ok, will do this weekend, im at college right now.

 

Well I just got the battery, alternator, and starter tested and everything is good...so that should help you guys out some more

 

new battery. Have them check it not only when the car is sitting but WHILE ITS STARTING. Alot of batteries will show a solid 12.5 when sitting and hit 9.5- 10.4 ish when cranking, not good. Also, Id never own an Optima again, worse battery Ive ever had. Also as cars age so do the wires. Something called "the big 3" upgrade can do wonders to an older car. Hell my 93 gained 1.5 mpg better after doing that!

 

Already got it tested