Vehicle Won’t Start

[Rschmauch]

For a few months now I’ve been having an issue with my LaCrosse starting up. If I don’t drive the vehicle for awhile and decide to drive it, it starts right up. If I turn the vehicle off at let’s stay a gas station or store and try to start it again, it struggles and the engine might not start.

If I go to work and at the end of the day use the vehicle, it starts right up. I was told about getting a tune up for around $800-$900, but I need something now. My question is is this the starter going bad or is it something else? Battery and alternator seem fine. I’d like to know for sure before purchasing a starter. Any thoughts on this issue?

 

[Smith1000]

Is is cranking fine and just not firing over, or is the starter just dragging and cranking slow when it does it? What year is it and how many miles are on it?

 

[Rschmauch]

Is is cranking fine and just not firing over, or is the starter just dragging and cranking slow when it does it? What year is it and how many miles are on it?

I’m not sure. The car always turns on, but the engine might not always go. It’s a 2005 and there’s around 91,000 miles on it.

 

[Danute]

Take your car and get the battery load tested, it will probably fail. If your car sits for a week or so there is enough static charge to start it. You drive 5 or 10 minutes and shut it off the battery never charged back up. Now you have no reserve power to restart. The alternator will need at least 30 to 45 minutes to recharge the battery. A battery and alt. test will tell you. If the battery is 5 years old or more send it away!

 

[Smith1000]

I am assuming it has the 3.8 in it. It sounds like, for cold starts, it cranks and fires up fine, but, for hot starts, it cranks, but doesn't want to fire. Do you have a check engine light on and have you had someone read it to see if any codes are stored?

Right off hand, I would suspect the crankshaft position sensor or, the camshaft position sensor. When they begin to fail, it can result in difficulty starting the vehicle when the engine is hot. Once they cool down, the car may start fine. This is a fairly common issue. If the codes can be checked it may verify this-if it set a code.

It could be something else causing the issue. Checking for codes stored would be a good next step.

 

[Rschmauch]

I am assuming it has the 3.8 in it. It sounds like, for cold starts, it cranks and fires up fine, but, for hot starts, it cranks, but doesn't want to fire. Do you have a check engine light on and have you had someone read it to see if any codes are stored?

Right off hand, I would suspect the crankshaft position sensor or, the camshaft position sensor. When they begin to fail, it can result in difficulty starting the vehicle when the engine is hot. Once they cool down, the car may start fine. This is a fairly common issue. If the codes can be checked it may verify this-if it set a code.

It could be something else causing the issue. Checking for codes stored would be a good next step.

Yeah. It’s the CXL model which has the 3.8L engine. There’s no check engine light that comes on. I could check to see if any codes pop up.

 

[02LTD]

Another possibility could be the Ignition Control Module failing when it gets hot. Neither the ICM or the CKPS will set a trouble code.