Ford Five Hundred: 145,000 miles. About every 3 weeks have trouble starting the car?

P

PlantersCashews

New member
Car runs fantastic BUT. Over about the last 3-4 months, about every three weeks I'll have trouble starting the car. I think the starter is OK as I hear it turning over, it just isn't catching right away. I've had times where it's taken me 10-20 times of turning the car over, and it'll JUST BARELY catch, have trouble for a few seconds, then fire right up and run fine. After that it'll start up fine for a few weeks. At first I thought it may have had to do with the low temperatures and maybe a low fuel tank condensing. However, it just did it today, and it has nearly a full tank. It definitely has occurred during the colder months - I don't remember this happening when it was warmer out.

Possibly related, since I bought the car (with 116,000 miles), when I start the car, it has idled high. To the point of taking off a bit aggressively when taking it out of park. As I've always owned used cars, I've learned to deal with minor inconsistencies, so figured I just needed to have the idle adjust (doesn't do it when the car is warmed up).

Not sure if these are related, would appreciate any ideas!

Thanks!!!
 
if im understanding your com plant correctly i would venture to say that ether the ring gear or stater drive gear is worn and you should get it repaired
 
Maybe your spark plug wires are bad, moisture in the air will make them perform worse...Try having someone else try to start the car at night (in a dark place) and look for arcing of the plug wires to the block or some other ground. As a temporary fix, you can spray the wires with WD-40 or some other water displacer. I use to have a car that I had to spray every time it was cold and or damp out...ideally you should change the wires but if you carry a can of WD-40 you can get around it if you are short of cash.
 
Back
Top