I always have my car in DRL, and just noticed last night to today that it doesn't turn on immediately when I start the car, however it does seem to turn on a few minutes after the car starts rolling. I'm sure before it turned on immediately with the car. Maybe 12v going weak?
View 9 RepliesI have a 1999 Chevy Prizm that I'm trying to keep as long as possible since I'm now working very part-time hours. For the past week or two I put the ignition key in, and can't get it to immediately turn. I check to make sure the car's really in Park, push the key in further, pull it out just a hair...between each step I try to get the key to turn and start the car. After 4 or 5 tries it does turn and the car starts right up.
I've tried both my "regular" key and my spare, thinking maybe one was a little worn and not fitting quite right. I'm getting worried that the time will come when I won't be able to get the key to turn. Is this a problem with the lock part of my ignition, or is there some glitch that's telling the car it's not in Park even though it is?
I just had to spend a good chunk of my emergency money to get tires and brake work on this car so it could pass inspection, and when I told the man at the garage about the key problem he shrugged and made some vague comment about old cars having problems.
I've got a 1998 Jeep Cherokee Sport 4x4, 4.0 L I6, automatic, 169k miles, that often cranks but doesn't start up. When I cut the power and try again, it starts up right away. I'm concerned this workaround will one day not work and I'll be left stranded, so I'd like to fix this if it's cheap and easy. The symptoms suggest either a lack of fuel or lack of spark due to an electrical problem, so I replaced the ASD (auto shutdown) and Fuel Pump relays, but they made no difference. The other two relays - Starter and Cooling Fan - seemed irrelevant. What this could be? Maybe the crank angle sensor? (I'm not even sure where that's located.)
View 4 RepliesThis 97 F150 4.2 is new to me, originally a very base 2wd white fleet vehicle, with 189,000 miles, runs smoothly and quietly, idles well, transmission shifts smoothly. Gets reasonable gas mileage.
Problem statement: the truck has an intermittent starting problem. The failure to start happens about 5-10% of the time. The motor will turn over fine, but but immediately stumbles while trying to start. Turn key off and then re-start attempt will be again followed by a bucking stumble. Some times the motor might try and run for 2-3 seconds bucking and stumbling. It is possible the problem happens more often when the truck is warm and has been shut off for 15 minutes or so. Once the problem happens it is very repeatable. It won't start again unless I wait about 30 minutes to an hour. Once it starts it seems to run very nicely. I have noticed some times when I go to successfully start the truck it might run roughly for the first 3-4 seconds bucking and sputtering a bit and then smooth out and not have an issue until the next re-start attempt.
The truck runs so nicely when it is running I doubt it is an issue with the plugs, air filter general tune up. Could it be an intermittent fuel pump issue? The next time it occurs I will check fuel pressure. Could it be fuel pressure regulator? Also tested by fuel pressure. ECU? The truck runs very nicely most of time that seems like a long shot. Crank sensor? Bad fuel? I did add some dry gas.
A couple weeks ago I noticed the passenger side headlight would turn off almost immediately after I turned it on. After a couple hours of swearing at it/trying to twist it out, I finally pull the bulb and socket out of the metal retaining clips in one piece. I had to use a couple channel locks to get the bulb to twist out of the socket, and when I finally did I saw the socket and bulb were very toasty.
I cleaned up the socket, replaced both bulbs, and everything seems to be working fine so far, knock on wood. Any example of this kind of arcing between the bulb/socket? If this is a one-time thing, great, but I'm wondering if it's symptomatic or problems someplace else.
How to fix or solve front turn signals that are not working? I just realized that both the front signals on my Prius doesn't light or flash when making a turn, the rear are working fine. Is this an easy fix or should I bring it to the dealer?
View 4 RepliesI have a new 2013 Ford Fiesta with less than 2000 miles on it. While I am at a stop sign, I step on the gas, and the car does not go immediately. It feels like my foot slips off the gas pedal, although I know that is not the case because my foot is still on the pedal! I have to ease off the gas pedal just a bit until the car will go into first gear and get some momentum. It only happens every once in a while, not every time I am at a stop sign.I checked with the dealer and of course he said it is the way I'm driving it. He said I don't need to step on the gas like it is a sports car. I'm not driving it like Mario Andretti. I'm just trying to get around town with a bit of efficiency. If you are familiar with Chicago city driving, you know the drivers behind you don't have time to wait for my little Ford Fiesta to eventually kick into gear. I don't have any issues with it going from 3rd to 4th or 2nd to 3rd gear.
View 12 RepliesI have a 2013 Prius Three. If I drive somewhere (engine completely warm) and stop, like at a store, come back 5-10 mins later, hit the power button, sometimes the ICE will start and immediately shut off, like within 1 second. It can't be the warm up cycle as the ICE is at normal operating temperature. I guess it is not a issue, as one of the 20 computers is doing this and there are no lights(like cel).
View 18 RepliesWe are having an intermittent issue with car starting up and immediately throwing a CEL, red triangle and going into limp mode. Shutting off the car and restarting it sometimes resolves the issue. I'd love to be able to pull the logs from the car to see what is causing this issue.
View 11 RepliesI owned a 1986 (or '87) Scirocco 16V for nearly 20 years and 200k miles. From the very beginning the car was perfect EXCEPT once in a while, under seemingly totally random conditions, it would simply not turn over. The start would crank as long as I desired, but it simply wouldn't turn over. There was definitely nothing wrong with the engine or the battery. I could roll-start the thing fine (in fact, I took to parking on hills!), and MOST of the time it turned over instantly.
In fact, sometimes when it would get into this mode, I could walk away for an hour, and come back without moving the car, and it would start right up. It was just frustratingly unpredictable -- maybe 1 in 20 times it would simply get into this mode -- no correlation that I could ever figure out -- not the car being warm or cold, or the weather, or anything. I had it in the shop twice for this in my first year of owning it (~'87). The first time, they claimed to fix it, and nothing changed -- same problem. So I took it back. The second time, they again claimed to have fixed it... never had the problem again.
Ok, so, according to my dad, his car battery died, and he had to have it jumped. After the jump, apparently his headunit will no longer turn on. We think it may be a blown fuse, in which case we need to know the location of the fuse (and probably the rating & label of it, for identification's sake). I have an aftermarket headunit in my Santa Fe, and the fuse for that is in the back of the actual unit itself, so I don't know if there's a fuse in the back of his factory stereo too...? However, we are not exactly sure what the problem is. My dad's car is a 2007 Hyundai Elantra with the premium factory audio system installed. He gets Sirius-XM and has an aux input (everything pertaining to audio is factory-installed).
View 2 RepliesRE: FORD PROBE GL (non-turbo). Last week suddenly car wouldn't start Thurs. night. Cranked but would not turn over. Heard click at ignition switch area when key turned to start position. (Although I could only hear one click from inside the vehicle with windows shut, I was told that clicks audible under the hood from standing outside.) Tried jump starting (from a good battery using proper connections) unsuccessfully, repeated tries several minutes apart, allowing longer and longer time to charge. About every third attempt, instead of cranking sounds, I would get silence, with only the click audible.
Temperatures decreased from approximately 50s to 20s when symptoms began.Battery is old but tests good/replace soon: 330+ CCA at 43 degrees, original rating CCA 530 (silver battery now at 7 years. Will replace, but garage did not have required size 56). At that point, the amps gauge read at the low end of the normal range (and today it read mid-way in the normal range).Had car towed to garage on Friday. Mechanic looked at on Saturday and decided it was the inertia switch, which he said had "tripped".I watched video for technicians on inertia switch but it shows on newer Fords. Mine is not located at the kick panel and does not have a red button on top. I am not certain from my experience whether the reset button would actually be in a different position when tripped or he merely surmised that is what had happened, despite my telling the shop manager that I had not so much as bumped a curb. Also, the trunk was not slammed or even opened prior to the car not starting.
Car presumably started fine at mechanic when they pulled it into the garage to put air in tires and back out to the lot, as well as when I started it to drive home on Sunday. However, on Tuesday it would not start. Just in case, I depressed inertia switch reset and tried cranking again several times, giving it some gas, until I was actually pumping it vigorously in desperation as a last resort (several seconds turning key each time), and on about the 5th try, the engine began to catch just as I was releasing the key. Reset the inertia switch one more time (just in case), and after a couple more attempts, it finally started, but when I was going in reverse to back out and then putting in gear to start out in first gear, for about 15 seconds total, I heard a bizarre loud, fairly high-pitched whistle/whine type of sound that seemed to come from under the hood coming through the central area of the dash where the radio is located.
Drove about 5 miles to my job, and about 2 hours later was able to start the car on the first try. Lately usually driven relatively short distances of 2-4 miles, with a longer drive of 11 miles broken up into 6 miles + 5 miles on the return trip the night before this started happening.
I drive an Infiniti i30. When I bought it, the guy who sold it to me told me that the car runs great but that I would have to turn the key kind of hard to get the car started. Over time, this problem has progressively gotten worse. There have been times where I'd be stuck in a parking lot for over an hour trying to get the car to start. When I turn the key, I can hear the starter clicking, and all of the dash lots and radio will come on but the car doesn't sound like its cranking or even trying to start. The weirdest thing is that the first time I drive my car in the morning it starts up just fine. It's once I turn the car off after driving somewhere and try to start it again that I have problems. I'll have to turn the key 100 times or more sometimes to get it to start if its not the first time of the day. What this could be?
View 4 RepliesI recently purchased Toyota Camry Hybrid -2008, pre-purchase inspection done by Toyota dealer. Today, my car refuses to turn ignition on (I have keyless start). After several trials, it turned on. I switched off the car and tired after 5 mins. Again it gave the trouble first time, worked second time. What could cause this issue? It's still under hybrid warranty.
View 5 RepliesI have an 1999 Cavalier that I got inspected in July so I'm good until next July. I had a small welding job done on the frame so it would get the inspection sticker for this year, but I'm thinking that by next year, I'll have paid enough off of my Liberty and be able to take on another car payment. In the meantime, the Cavalier has 214,000 miles on it and has something weird happening. Occasionally, I will get into the car and turn the key to start it and it makes a sound in what I think is the engine compartment.
It almost seems as if there is a small explosion in the engine and the car doesn't start. Then, I turn the key again and it starts up without a problem, no boom. This actually happened again yesterday and I'm writing now so I don't forget "how" it happened. I stopped at the school to pick up my son and shut off the car to go in. I picked him up, got in the car and that is when it happened. I had just come from my house which is a mile away, so it was a short drive to get him. I keep thinking that maybe one of the cylinders has some gas in it that is igniting when I try to start it, but not sure what could cause that. It doesn't happen all the time though, just once every couple of weeks.
Also, this car has over 200,000 miles on it and I do not believe I have ever changed the antifreeze in it. It is the orange kind that is supposed to be good up to 100,000 miles and, yes, I should have had it changed a long time ago, but I have never had any problems with it overheating or starting in the winter time so I didn't worry about it. Again, this is only once a month or maybe every few weeks, but I'll see the coolant light come on. I don't want to take this to the shop and pay them to replace the coolant, so I'm thinking I'll either do it myself. My question is...should I drain it and replace with orange coolant, green coolant, or just top it off with water?
2001 6.8 Ex wouldn't start again today Get a loud click but starter doesn't turn over. Yesterday jumped it, took it to Advance where they checked battery and alternator; both checked out great. To start it this morning I ran my negative jumper from battery to engine block and it fired up It's about 12 degrees out and was same yesterday. Thinking dirty/bad ground somewhere ? Do I just start following the negative cable everywhere it goes or am I missing something here No garage and it is chilly.
View 3 RepliesIt happens yesterday when I passed an accident caused traffic jam. The day is hot, about 100 F and the traffic is very slow. It lasted for about 15 to 20 minutes, of course the battery had only 2 bar left. After the traffic jam, the battery is charge quickly, but I realized that the EV will not turn on, or the car has only gas engine running. I can feel the acceleration is different with only gas engine running, not as smooth as normal. I got home, turned off my car. After two hours, I tried to drive it again, it's still the same. Until this morning, it got back to normal. During the whole time, there's no any sign showing there's any problem.
View 4 RepliesI just found a nice Prius C for sale with little damage to the front right corner, no frame damage or anything, just some bodywork needed. So, after it was fixed up. I brought the car back and there is weird issue that I have - turn signals and Hazard lights dont work. When I turn it on, i can hear clicks from it, but I dont see lights blinking on the dashboard and my head/tail lights dont blink as well.
View 5 RepliesMy radio was working fine on Friday, but the next time I drove the car, on Sunday, the radio wouldn't turn on. The power button doesn't do anything, pressing the mode button doesn't do anything and the voice command button doesn't do anything.
Everything else works... bluetooth, display, Nav. Just the radio/CD player won't turn on... it just says "Audio Off". Also, when I go into the diag screen, the Audio reports "NCON". I've checked the fuses listed in the Owners Manuel as audio and they all seem fine.
I noticed today shortly before turning off the car that the screen was lagging. Sometimes there was not even response. Radio turned on and off ok, but screen was not showing it. It would then display (after several seconds) the info, display, and audio. However, when I clicked the Climate one, the MFD said, "Check the condition to the air conditioner." However, when I used the driver's controls, it worked okay.
I then turned off the car, and when I turned it back on, everything appeared to be normal. The screen was significantly lagging.
Might this be an issue with the air conditioning itself. I mostly run the A/C on full blast on the MAX cold (sometimes Auto (LO temp, HI fan)). Temperature in the output vent (left center one) after 5-10 minutes: 48 degrees moving. Outside temperature between 100 and 110, so it's pretty hot too.
I have absolutely loved my 2011 F-150 8 cyl since I bought it in 2013. I'm just now having my first issue...
For the past two weeks or so, I've had an issue with intermittently hard starting. It cranks like normal but doesn't turn over instantly. The longest its gone before starting has been about six seconds. Although originally happening only 10% of the time, its happening about 40% of the time over the past couple days. I had my mechanic take a look and the battery and starter all checked out fine.
Biggest problem was that it never did it for them making it hard for them to trouble-shoot. Thus far its always started, just takes an indescript amount of time in which to do it. The time of day doesn't seem to matter although afternoons in which I'm heading to lunch after being in the office for 3-4 hours seems the most common time.