Crank time question - Thoughts?
 

Car: 2004 MT 109,000 miles. Plugs coils and wires replaced around 15k or so ago. Battery is fine. I am not sure if I have the old starter or the upgraded but I will check at some point.

Scenario: Maybe I am a little paranoid but it seems that my starter might be wearing out. Keep in mind that this is only on cold starts and on occasion, never on hot starts. The car always fires up real quick and strong when hot.

Sometimes I will start it up and it will take 3-4 seconds to fire up. Other times it will take 1-2 seconds and it fires up. When it starts it's strong. The only thing I can think of is sometimes the rotors are in a different place and need to be in the correct position before it starts. Second it could be my starter motor becoming weaker.

I am not worried about compression loss becuase it starts with no problems when hot and really no problems when cold.. only a second or two more crank.

Does anyone notice varying crank times with their cars? Not by much, maybe a second or two here and there. It's been about a year problem free with the car, so I know I'm due for one sooner or later.

In addition to your starter, I would also check the battery. I have experienced varying crank times (as many other rx8 owners I assume) but they are very very random.

It's normal. There are a couple of threads about this already. Mine does the same thing.

Nice. I figured it was normal but paranoid nonetheless. RX-8's will do that to you.

Dunno if it's normal, but it's common. My '04 did it before and after an engine swap, along with the usual coils/plugs/wires/battery/battery cables being replaced too. Have the upgraded starter which tested at 270 rpm.

Nornally starts in one second, but maybe 1 in 20 starts will take 2-3 seconds. Doesn't struggle, just cranks over longer then starts fine.

The only pattern I've found is once a long start occurs, it'll happen more often for a couple starts (like 50/50). Then it'll be fine again for 20 starts. Repeat.

I'd say it's normal, except it never did it when I first bought the car back in 2004. Maybe it's a "feature" in one of the later flashes.

My starter spins at 33X and it happens about as offten as Maries describes. This isn't the only car it happens to. My 04 grand am gt did the same thing from mile one.