Car slow to start first time,fine after...

ferry

Need to run this one past you clever lot regarding wife's Clio.
Had a new battery last year but still experiencing a slow turn over but only at first morning cold start. New coilpack and plugs too recently.
Once the car has been running a while it's fine to start,just the first turn over is slow.
Apologies for the vague description but any ideas where we could look next to solve this?

Thanks as usual
F

Ebe_Scrooge

Hmm, battery would be the obvious culprit, but you say it's quite new. Is it the correct rating for the car ?


Otherwise, has the oil been changed regularly ? It's important to do this anyway, but if there's a lack of lubrication it may contribute to difficult starting. The other possibility may be the starter motor - a new one is quite expensive, but a reconditioned one is not too bad. But you'd need a mechanic to take a look at it to establish if it's on the way out.


Just some thoughts - I'm not guaranteeing any of the above is definitely the cause, but fairly easy to check. Hope this helps.

Gloomendoom

If it is just turning over more slowly when cold, that is normal and to be expected. If it is very slow and you are certain that your battery is fine and being charged correctly, then the starter motor may be at fault. I would check the battery and connections first.

Norman_Castle

I would check the engine earth strap for corrosion and check the viscosity of the engine oil.

thescouselander

Yes, check the earth straps and also that the battery terminals are done up tightly.

Razoo

ferry wrote: »

Had a new battery last year but still experiencing a slow turn over but only at first morning cold start.
Once the car has been running a while it's fine to start, just the first turn over is slow.

If the battery is new and of adequate ampere-hour (Ah) capacity, then it shouldn't be the problem, unless it is faulty, not being charged adequately by the alternator, or it is losing its charge overnight.

Is there any electrical device that is remaining energised when the ignition is off? An interior light, glove box light or boot light remaining on, or the radio? Check the door switches. Maybe you have something plugged into the cigarette lighter socket (some cars keep the cigarette lighter socket permanently energised)?

Any permanent current draw would partially drain the battery overnight, making cold starting difficult. The alternator would quickly replenish the battery once the engine has started and, along with warm and consequently lower viscosity oil, this would make subsequent starting much easier.

If you have access to a DC voltmeter (e.g. digital multimeter), you can check the battery terminal voltage first thing in the morning BEFORE starting the car. You should see a battery terminal voltage of more than 12V DC - something in the region of 12.2 - 12.6V DC is normal. If you see less than 12V, then the battery's charge is too low.

You could also check the alternator output with the engine running. The battery terminal voltage should rise to 14.4 - 14.8V when the engine is first started. This voltage will reduce as the battery charges up, but should usually remain between 13.8 - 14.2V DC if the alternator is operating correctly. Run the engine at 1,500 - 2,000 rpm for these voltage checks.

One simple test you can do if you don't have a voltmeter, is to disconnect the negative (-) cable at the battery terminal post before leaving the car overnight. Reconnect the negative cable the next morning and if the car starts fine you can be certain the problem is some form of permanent current draw depleting the battery overnight. You then have to hunt the culprit down! Note that if you do disconnect the battery, you may have to re-enter radio codes, etc..

There is also one rare (and expensive) fault that can cause the symptoms you describe. I know about this because it's a problem I had with a vehicle I owned many years ago.

In this case, the cylinder head gasket started to leak between the water jacket and two of the cylinders. It was a very slight leak that didn't manifest itself as an overheating issue, or a noticeable loss of coolant. What it did do though, was to allow a small amount of coolant to leak into the cylinders as the engine cooled down. This caused the bores to corrode overnight and partially seized the pistons. The first start in the morning was very laboured, suggesting a knackered battery. Once the engine was running, the corrosion was quickly dispersed and the engine started fine for the rest of the day. It took me quite some while to identify this fault, by which time the two cylinder bores with corrosion were badly worn. The engine had to be stripped down and rebored, and new pistons fitted. Hopefully this isn't your problem!
_____
Razoo

Iceweasel

How long is the engine running for every day?

How far does it travel?

How many times is it started per day?

A car doing several short journeys will often simply not be able to replace the energy taken from the battery.

If you use heated seats, heated screens, heater and radio and only drive a short distance then the battery will not be charged enough.

If that is the pattern of usage for this car then you need a trickle charger one or two nights a week.

ferry

Iceweasel wrote: »

How long is the engine running for every day?

How far does it travel?

How many times is it started per day?

A car doing several short journeys will often simply not be able to replace the energy taken from the battery.

If you use heated seats, heated screens, heater and radio and only drive a short distance then the battery will not be charged enough.

If that is the pattern of usage for this car then you need a trickle charger one or two nights a week.

Hi all
Thanks for all your helpful replies.
To be honest the car only does around 10 miles a day so that would be a contributing factor. Going to try the cheaper option of removing the net terminal overnight then checking the earthing.

I'll report back as it might help others

Richard53

An alternative with no dismantling, if you have a battery charger, is to give it a good charge overnight. If it starts fine, then a) your battery is not holding its charge, b) the battery is not getting charged enough with your short journeys, or c) you have a parasitic drain which is being masked by the battery charger. If it's still difficult to start from cold, then you need to be looking at terminals, connections, starter motor etc. Easy way to narrow it down a bit.

Casey_Ryback

Check starter motor cables and earthing