04 Malibu Maxx ~65k
About 2 weeks ago I would (on about every 10th trip) get trouble starting… all the right noises are present, the dash lights are on but that final kick doesn’t happend. Today I had the same thing happen and gave it a little gas - worked like a charm.
What should I be looking at here, before I take it to the mechanic (fleece shop).
Thank you in advance!
Think of what you are going to ask the “fleece shop” to diagnois. “Every 10th try,there or about my car will not start”. These mechanics are going to try and do whatever they can to get the car in failure mode. We don’t need a code but it sure would be nice to have the car actually fail to start on us. When this happens they can start measuring things. Until it fails on them or you give the OK for them to inspect componets that most times are working just fine, this is going to be in the area of inspect all you can as good as you can,as fast as you can, and it will not be for free.
On average, your local mechanic is not trying to “fleece” you. They actually want to do a good job, and fix your car the right way, the first time. It’s simply good business. If we go around ripping everyone off, we’re out of business. Period. Word travels very fast. Then there’s always the whole lawsuit for failure to perform thing…
oldschool nailed it. We have to find something wrong to fix it.
Work with it a bit and see if that “giving it some gas” continues to work. If it does, then at least there’s something to look at. Try and note as much as possible the conditions every time it fails. Outside temp, engine temp, wet, dry, parked in the sun, parked in a garage, was mad and slapped the dash, whatever you can think of that will point somewhere.
Chase