Ok-

After reading the forums for quite some time as well as doing searches, I still am not sure what to do...

Today I had my first rough start of my 8. It took a long time to crank over and I had already started it up, drove to Lowe's, came back out after it was definitely warmed up and then tried to start it and it almost didn't. The temperature outside is in the low to mid 70s. Anyone else have an occasional problem like this? Perhaps I should go ahead and just get the upgraded battery now that some of you have talked about since it is an 04. Are these signs the battery could be on the fritz?

 

Nope its normal. Sometimes it can take up to 10 seconds to crank, sometimes it starts in half a second. I find that mine does it when its slightly cooled down. Starting cold it starts almost right away, once the engine is warm and cools down for about an hour its harder to start.

I wouldn't worry about it, the only thing to make sure of is that you don't stop cranking until it starts because you could flood it. Keep cranking even if it takes 10 seconds, it will start.

 

Yup...happens to me too. I have the most difficulty starting the car 20-60 minutes after I last shut it off. At the most it takes 5 seconds to crank and start under these circumstances. Of course, I bought my 8 in December and have yet to run it in 60+ degree weather (gotta love the NE).

I wouldnt worry about it...seems to be one of the 8's many quirks.

 

Hmmm, haven;t experienced any starting problems as of yet. My salesguy instructed us to make sure that we rev it to about 5,000 rpm prior to shutting it off.......it burns any 'extra' fuel that may be in the chamber making a restart easier (so he said).
Are you doing this?

 

I ditto what apotocki said about reving the engine when shutting down. I've only heard this from my salesman....have others heard this tip as well????

 

Yeah, revving before shutdown is a technique that some here use. I just thought my battery could be slowly crapping out...

I may just buy another battery so I know that I am starting out with a good one and it should last me awhile.

 

I’ve experienced (and worried) about the same thing. I have been driving the car and it is fully warmed up and then it sits for 10-20 min while I am in a store. When I try to start it cranks for longer than it normally does and then sputters to life. So far it always starts.

I’m glad to hear that it happens to others. Got to love this club!

 

The three or so times it's happened to me have been in warm weather (80+), after a sporty drive (aka engine VERY warm, lol), shutting it off, then trying to start it again after 30 minutes.

Took 5 seconds or so, as you said.

It's not like it's TRYING to start that whole time (sputtering, coughing, etc.). It just seems to wait 5 seconds before injecting fuel, then starts up.

 

I've had weird starts where the engine was hot, but then cooled down for 1/2hr or so. My guess is that the coolant is still pretty warm in part of the system but cool in others, so the controls get confused until things mix and the temperature stabilizes again. Just a guess, though.

One thing I've found that shortens cranking time is to pause a few seconds before turning the key from ON to START. When you turn it to ON, the car does self-tests, primes the fuel system, and who knows what else, so I've found that if I wait for those noises to stop, then crank, it fires up faster.

I also give the throttle a blip before shutting it down, which should cut the fuel as the engine spins down, making it less likely to flood on the next start.