The car now has 104k miles on it and I recently moved from California to Pennyslvania, so a drastic change in environment during the winter. I started having issues last winter where I would turn the key and the engine would not crank. I was going to replace the battery soon so I let that go unchecked until now. I recently changed the battery and I checked headlight intensity prior to full ignition so I don’t think its a bad battery.
My check engine light came on one day while I was having issues getting the car to start so I had a shop run the diagnostic and they said it was a bad crank position sensor. I replaced both sides yesterday but this morning I noticed that my car did not start my first try turning the key but started the second turn (the usual case if I have any issues). What else could be causing this problem?
Try this: turn the ignition to “ON,” wait five seconds, then turn to “START.” See if that makes any difference.
If the fuel pressure in the line is not being maintained it will take a second or two for the pump to pressurize the system, and under this condition the engine may not start up right away, or may stall and need a second start.
I recently changed the battery and I checked headlight intensity prior to full ignition so I don’t think its a bad battery.
That is NOT a good test. A starter will draw 10-20 times more amps then your headlights will.
I have started doing this out of habit. It helps most of the time but there are still times where I have trouble starting the car after a few minutes of things like keeping the car in on mode and trying to start in both neutral and park.
I had asked the local shop to check the starter a few months back when I got my brakes replaced and they said it was fine, I could ask for a second opinion though.