Honda Car Forum

I seem to be having problems with my car not starting right away, the engine
keeps turning over but takes a while until it actually starts. I had a 02
and it left me stranded a few times, so they traded it in and now my 03
seems to be following in it's unreliability. Granted my 03 civic will
start, it has put me into a scare on wether or not it will actually decide
one day that it just may not. It seems very sporatic and does it like once
a week. I don't know what to think any more, my mechanic says it's totally
normal for that to happen, but I think that is a load of ****.

"harpo" <stco313@merr.com> wrote in message
news:42471ef2_3@newspeer2.tds.net...
>I seem to be having problems with my car not starting right away, the
>engine keeps turning over but takes a while until it actually starts. I
>had a 02 and it left me stranded a few times, so they traded it in and now
>my 03 seems to be following in it's unreliability. Granted my 03 civic
>will start, it has put me into a scare on wether or not it will actually
>decide one day that it just may not. It seems very sporatic and does it
>like once a week. I don't know what to think any more, my mechanic says
>it's totally normal for that to happen, but I think that is a load of ****.
>
Try hitting the starter for about half a second, wait for about a second,
then try starting it. If the fuel rail is losing pressurization (leaky
injector, bad check valve, etc.) the first crank will often confuse the
mixture and the car will be very hard to start. The bump and wait procedure
is a shadetree test for that.

If it is overdue for a tuneup, definitely do that. And a bottle of injector
cleaner can't hurt; might help.

There is a specific reason why your car is being hard to start. Taking care
of any overlooked maintenance is a good place to begin, but ultimately you
will need to pin it down if the problem persists.

Mike