What causes a car to only start on the 2nd try?

Question

My Calibra never starts on the first go, always on the second attempt and its always embarrassing.

What could this be? Starter motor? Ignition module?

Cheers,

Answer 1

The fuel isn't there in enough amount on/for the first starting attempt. Check anything is got to do with the fuel line, pumps and such related gizmos. Plus holden are lemons, aren't them?

Answer 2

It sounds like your fuel pressure regulator is slowly failing.

The fuel pressure regulator is suppose to keep a constant and minimum pressure - even when the engine is off.  But if that fails, it can slowly lower the pressure when the engine is OFF.  So it would take at least 2 cranks to build up the pressure.

But it could also be that your fuel pump is releasing the pressure (the same reason) when the engine is off.

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Have the fuel pressure checked and it will tell you if these two could be the problem.

Good Luck...

Answer 3

i had this problem with a different car type for over 1 yr, and it turned out (after spending 1000+$ on new computer chips, fuel filter, tests, etc) that it was a cheap 20$ thermostat that was the problem.

the last mechanics kind of got part of the problem right, they said it was invalid temperatures.  but they said the computer chip was bad and so i got another one, car worked 1st day, then back to same old trick of not starting on 1st try, but starting immediately on 2nd try.  boy was i pissed, and went right back to the mechanic again.

turns out:

the thermostat itself was telling the computer the wrong temperature, so the fuel injectors were getting the wrong initial mix of fuel and oxygen to start the car.  but on 2nd try, it would start right up (bcs fuel was already then in there).

i never had problem until my father did an oil change for me on my car, and he replaced a thermostat and a belt too as preventative.  then within a couple weeks, i had probs, but we had thermostat checked out and it was ok.  so i kept just dealing with it for a while, and prob minimised in winter.  but then the next summer, problem was back just as bad, and it was worse on the hottest days, like over 30C, sometimes i would have to try 3 or 4 times to get car going.

but turns out that unbeknowst to my dad and even the mechanics i was taking it to, there were  TWO separate thermostats, and the other one needed replacing.  once it was replaced, no more problems!  

the fuel/oxygen mix needed to start a car in -10C to 5C is different than the mix needed to start car in 20-35C.

so, at least check thermostat, make sure you get all of them if there are multiple thermostats, they are cheap enough to replace anyway, and if that is not the problem, then you can spend more money later for computer tests and stuff.