mustangcat

This week my baby has had a hard time getting started first thing in the morning.

-It's been taking two tries, even three, to get her to start. Today it took a full FIVE starts, with me having to give it gas to get her going.
-The bad starts will turn over the engine, idle, rev, then die.
-"Service Engine Soon" light will come on when the bad starts go. But not when I'm driving, or when it starts up normally.
-It ONLY occurs when I first start her up for the day. I'll start the car up 4 or 5 times through out the day and it will only struggle during the first time of the day.

I don't think the cold weather is a factor, it only gets around 40*-50* here in the mornings.

Help

ChucksBullitt

take the car to autozone or your local auto parts store and get a battery test done. Batteries in climates where there is both extreme cold or extreme heat do not last long. in FL you are lucky to have a battery last more than 3years.

mustangcat

Well I'm not sure it is the battery. The lights all work. Nothing dims. And the instrument cluster says that battery has a good charge.

mustangcat

It's starting to take more and more to start her
Now even when I give it gas during the bad starts she still struggles.

Capt Hair

I would try the starter.

The same thing was happening to my old pickup truck (don't know if it really makes a difference) but i took it to the local autozone and they ran a test on it and the solenoid in the starter was bad, it was like 70 for a new starter and it starts like new now, but what your describing is exactly what was happening to my pickup.

The test was free by the way, so no hurt and seeing if thats the problem

xterm11

When you take it to AutoZone can they test the battery and/or starter while it is still in the car or, do you have to rip it out and actually bring it in the store?

Capt Hair

It needs to be out, call your local autozone and confirm that they test starters though before you do that, some don't for some reason.

mustangcat

UPDATE:

I'm thinking it's not the Starter now.
Today it started on the first try, BUT it idled at 300 RPM for a few seconds. Then died.

FUEL FILTER??? Help...

kegley_gt

same thing happened to my car, and it ended up being the mass air flow censor. it would start and the idle would range anywhere from 100 to about 700. so id check that as well