There are many things that can be wrong with your car if it hesitates to start. If you want your car to start right away, you should buy a battery charger so that you can charge the battery and have it ready for the next time you need it.
The best way to charge a dead car battery is to get a good quality trickle charger or auto battery maintainer. Make sure that whatever you buy is specifically designed for charging batteries in automobiles.
Why is my car taking longer to start?
Ever find that your car takes an unusually long time to start in the morning? The key is to diagnose what’s going on with your powertrain, then determine the best solutions. The most likely culprit for a slow-starting engine: A bad battery or bad starter.
A battery can be tested with an inexpensive handheld device you can pick up from any auto parts store. If you’ve ruled out the battery as the problem and still have trouble starting your car, try replacing the starter before it goes completely dead and replaces itself automatically while you’re driving down a busy street or highway.
Determine what’s causing your slow-starting car by examining the following factors:
Battery
It’s easy to get a new battery if you notice that the one in your car is dead when you come out to start it up. But if you don’t know how long it takes your battery to die, you might not realize that the problem is your battery, and you can end up wasting money buying starter parts.
A weak or dead battery forces the engine to turn over slowly when you turn the ignition with your key. If it takes more than 10 seconds to start, the problem could be a weak or dead battery.
Starter
The starter, which is located at the front of the engine under a metal cover that protects it from moving parts and water, is an electric motor that turns over the engine when you turn the key.
A faulty or worn starter will make your engine turn slowly or not at all. You can test a starter by turning it on using jumper cables connected to either another car or a set of good batteries and then test
how long it takes to start your car’s engine. If you have access to another vehicle, connect jumper cables from its good battery to your car’s dead battery. If you don’t have a second vehicle, connect jumper cables from your good batteries to your bad battery.
Another common problem with a car that hesitates before starting is hesitation during acceleration. The car will feel like it is jerking itself around while you are attempting to drive.
This problem is not as easy to fix as a dead battery or dead starter. The problem could be caused by anything from worn-out spark plugs and spark plug wires to a damaged catalytic converter or fuel injection system. Fixing this kind of problem requires an expensive diagnosis in most cases.
What causes long cranking?
A long crank on a car means that something is wrong with the car. There are many things that can cause the car to take a long time to start, but in most cases, it is caused by either a bad battery or a bad starter.
If your crank is taking longer than usual, you should inspect all of the wiring insides of your engine. There should be no loose wires and everything must be connected tightly and securely.
Make sure that nothing has come loose in your engine and also check all wire connections like terminals and leads from the battery charger terminals to the alternator or starter.
How long should a car crank before starting?
On average a car should crank for 1-3 seconds before starting, obviously, this will vary from car to car and the overall condition of the car. Since a dead battery may not crank the car for even 1 second, the engine should be started immediately after connecting any charged battery.
The car is more likely to start if you allow the new battery to charge up for about 30 minutes before starting the car. If you do not have a functioning charged battery, or if one of your batteries is dead, you could use anything that has a steady flow of electricity to begin recharging your car’s battery.
The most common devices used to jumpstart a dead car are another vehicle or jumper cables with good batteries
What are the symptoms of a bad starter?
If your car is turning over slowly or not at all, you should consider replacing the starter. A starter is an electrical device powered by your car’s engine.
It’s responsible for turning over the engine when you turn the key in your dashboard. The starter converts the power from the battery into a mechanical movement to turn over your engine.
A good way to test a starter is by using jumper cables from another vehicle. Connect one end of a set of jumper cables to a healthy battery and the other end to the positive and negative terminals on your bad battery and see if it starts right away.
Robert Anderson is a world class motorhead who rebuilt his first carb at age 10, his first engine at age 15, and completed his first full hotrod build when he was just 18! Previously, he has ran a part warehouse, delivered pizzas, and managed the service department for a $20 million/year revenue dealership. Robert knows cars like few others and he is passionate about sharing his knowledge.