Hard to start when car is warm

[W30olds]

Hey guys. Got a issue and can't seem to figure out what it might be. So my 95 GP 3.1L has been acting up some. When it's cold it starts good, but after it gets up to temp and I shut it off and try to restart it say after going into a store it's hard to get cranked again. So the battery is new and just had it load tested. The alternator I'd working as just had it tested. The starter is fairly new. I replaced it last summer with a new GM starter. Once the cars cranked and running it's fine. Runs fine. This just started happening within the last week. Any ideas what it could be?? Before having it looked at wanted to check to see what some of you GP gurus might think.

 

Thanks!

Andy

 

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[Imp558]

So the engine will physically not turn over or it turns over and won't start?

[W30olds]

So the engine will physically not turn over or it turns over and won't start?

Today it wouldn't physically turn over when I turned the key. It started fine this morning. Wife and i drove to home depot. Went in did a few things and came back out to leave and boom wouldn't turn over or start. After several attempts it finally started but acted like it had a bad battery.

 

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[Imp558]

Get a large ratchet and socket ready. When it does it verify the engine isn't seizing by turning it over with the crank pulley bolt. Then have someone turn the engine over while you hold a voltmeter on the battery, then clean all the large grounds. If the ground from the engine to frame or battery is poopy that'll do it.

[W30olds]

Get a large ratchet and socket ready. When it does it verify the engine isn't seizing by turning it over with the crank pulley bolt. Then have someone turn the engine over while you hold a voltmeter on the battery, then clean all the large grounds. If the ground from the engine to frame or battery is poopy that'll do it.

Ok thanks! Car ran perfectly fine all morning and boom we parked and went into home depot for a bit and then it was dead in the water. No starter, no turning, nothing. When it finally started to crank it acted like the battery was dead. Once running drove to autozone and the guy tested the alternator. Shut it off and he load tested the battery and said it was showing 100% and had 12.5V result on the load. Then when I tried to start.the car it started, but again acted like a dying battery.

 

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[W30olds]

Could it be the starter? I know it's fairly new, but seems like when it's hot it stumbles to turn over. I'll go check the wires in a bit

 

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[Imp558]

It could be anything, have to start with what's not new when you troubleshoot.

[W30olds]

It could be anything, have to start with what's not new when you troubleshoot.

I agree. The engines is about 2 years old, so pretty sure it's not seizing up. Maybe leaking injectors, or gas pressure regulator

 

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[Mitchellman]

To me seems like a bad connection issue. Whether it be at the battery, starter, or ground. But the not starting when it's warmed up kind of seems like a fuel pump issue. Just had to replace the fuel pump in a 97 Lumina that would start fine cold, once warmed up wouldn't start. Fixed his issue.

[Imp558]

To me seems like a bad connection issue. Whether it be at the battery, starter, or ground. But the not starting when it's warmed up kind of seems like a fuel pump issue. Just had to replace the fuel pump in a 97 Lumina that would start fine cold, once warmed up wouldn't start. Fixed his issue.

Fuel pressure would be a good place to start if it turned over and failed to start. The engine doesn't rotate so that's a seized engine, bad large connection, battery, or starter.

[W30olds]

So just a few minutes ago went and checked. Car started right up. Drove it around and got it warmed up. Drove back to the house and shut it off. Restarted just fine. Tried it about 10 times and zero problems. I'm kinda stumped. Checked the battery connections and they're nice and tight. Will crawl under it after it cools down and check/tighten all the starter bolts/nuts just to make sure nothings loose.

 

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[W30olds]

Car doesn't smoke when started either. No loss of power other than it being a 3.1L....lol. No misfiring, rough running, no smells of gas. No hesitating. All the symptoms of bad fuel pump I'm not having. Also symptoms of bad fuel regulator I'm not having. If I can get a fuel pressure gauge I will check pressure on the rail. Geez. It's gremlins

 

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[55trucker]

some misgivings here.....

 

is it a case of when the engine is warm........the starter engages but the engine doesn't want to crank?....or the engine freely cranks but won't fire?

[W30olds]

some misgivings here.....

 

is it a case of when the engine is warm........the starter engages but the engine doesn't want to crank?....or the engine freely cranks but won't fire?

The first. The engines warm and seems that the starter won't crank the car. Then sometimes it starts fine

 

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[Mitchellman]

Fuel pressure would be a good place to start if it turned over and failed to start. The engine doesn't rotate so that's a seized engine, bad large connection, battery, or starter.

Very true. I overlooked the part of it not cranking when warm. My 94 GS would have that issue every now and then. It was a loose connection on the LF fuse panel that would supply the box with power. I put a new bolt in there and good as Gould.

[Imp558]

My 95 GS turned over and wouldn't start and I did troubleshooting all the way to where the PCM was all that was left. I told it to fuck off and it wouldn't see the light of day until after the L67 swap.

[55trucker]

One needs to determine where the possible circuit issue is,

 

what I would do is make use of a remote engine starter to test right at the starter bypassing all before it.

 

If the starter/engine cranks freely when done in this manner then the issue is further upstream.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[W30olds]

Problem is I can't get the car to do it all the time. It's only happened 2 times so far. Really frustrating

 

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[Imp558]

If you pull the large grounds and clean under every one you're probably done. I keep a tube of copper paste here for under large connections.

[55trucker]

Next time this happens (wherever it takes place) check all of the electrical items (horn, power seat, lights, turn signals, wipers etc) to see if they are functioning properly.

[W30olds]

Next time this happens (wherever it takes place) check all of the electrical items (horn, power seat, lights, turn signals, wipers etc) to see if they are functioning properly.

Will do!

 

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[W30olds]

So I've had slow starts after driving the car and stopping. In the mornings it starts right up without any issues. When hot it will sometimes be hard to crank. I've checked the grounds. They all seem to be good and tight. Wondered if maybe the fuel pressure regulator might be going bad?? I saw a few YouTube videos on this issue. I've got a fuel filter and will change that. I dunno what else it might be. From what I've dug up the hard start when hot could be a possible fuel problem. Apparently the fuel diaphragm could be going bad. Don't believe it's the Ignition control module. It runs perfectly fine when it starts up. I'm dumbfounded.......

 

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[55trucker]

Hmmmmmmm......lets clear something up here..

 

 

when you state that *sometimes the engine is hard to crank*

 

does that mean that the starter is struggling to turn the engine over?

[W30olds]

Hmmmmmmm......lets clear something up here..

 

 

when you state that *sometimes the engine is hard to crank*

 

does that mean that the starter is struggling to turn the engine over?

So in the mornings when the cars cold it starts right up with no hesitation and the starter has zero problems at all. Spins right over and the car starts like a champ.

 

Now when I drive it to work and the car is up to operating temps sometimes I'll stop in QT and grab a coffee. Maybe in there 10 minutes max. Come back out to start the car and it acts like it's struggling to spin over and crank. It will start, but seems to acts like it's a weak battery.

 

I replaced the starter not that long ago. It's a GM starter and it was new. I've had the battery and alternator checked and they both are fine. I've also thought maybe the ignition switch might be failing, but I'm not a mechanic by any means. Lol

 

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[55trucker]

You've replaced the starter......did the previous starter suffer in the same manner?