Hard cold start

DAVISMELODY6669

MEMBER
2004 MITSUBISHI MONTERO
3.8L
V6
4WD
AUTOMATIC
172,000 MILES

Hello, my question might be silly. On cold starts the engine turns over for like 5 seconds and turns on normal. After driving 5 or 15 minutes. Car is off and warm. When starting it again, it turns over 2 seconds and the engine turns on. My question is, I do not know if it's normal and I'm worried that one day it will turn over and not start. I can't find a fuel pump relay. I want to diagnose everything that might need attention for long travel. Any help would be highly appreciated. Thank you

3 Replies

KASEKENNY

MECHANIC
18,907 POSTS

This sounds normal. However, if there were an issue I would suspect the fuel pump is getting weak. The best way to test this is a fuel pump pressure test. A guide is below on how to do this.

If you don't have a gauge to check this then when this is going to have a cold start, try turning the key to the on position (the one before it cranks) and pause for 2 seconds, and do it about 3 times and then try to start it. If it starts faster then the fuel pump is weakening.

If it makes no difference, I suspect it is normal because it does take longer to start a cold engine then one that is warm.

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/engine-cranks-excessively-before-starting

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-check-fuel-system-pressure-and-regulator

Let me know what happens and we can go from there. Thanks