My car is acting really bizarre. It started having start-up issues during the winter, which in Houston isn't really ever all that cold. The engine will sound like it's trying to start, but won't turn over. I'll try a few times, then it would start up. We thought it was just the cold, but now, in the summer heat, it's still doing the same thing.
There's no real rhyme or reason to when it will do it either. Low fuel, full tank, hot weather, cold weather, has sat off for hours, has sat off for minutes. It will either start up right away or won't start up until after a few tries (upwards of five or six tries sometimes). I pump the gas pedal a few times while I'm trying to start it if it doesn't turn over, but I don't think it makes a difference. I think I'm just trying to make myself feel better.
The only thing I can say about the maintenance of the car is that due to financial problems, we haven't been maintaining a full tank on it. That's really it.I'll run it close to the line sometimes, but it's never run out of gas. I don't think it's a battery issue either, because I took my husband's car to work for a week and my car never moved, and I figure if it was a battery issue, I wouldn't have even gotten dome lights when I tried it again. The electronics in the car worked just fine.
A friend of mine mentioned the air filter might need replacing, so I took a look at it, and it looks brand new.
Once it's running, I don't have trouble with it stalling while idling or anything like that. Once it turns over, it's just like normal, until I turn the car off. I can drive it to a gas station and sit at the pump for a few minutes trying to get it to start, or I can drive it to work, have it sit in the parking lot for ten hours, and it starts like nothing's wrong. It's really driving me crazy, because I don't want to be left stranded somewhere when it eventually decides it doesn't want to start anymore.
Any help or insight you can give is greatly appreciated. :)
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Friday, May 28th, 2010 AT 12:16 PM
