When the car is cold it starts right up. After it is warmed up and you shut it off, it is a bear to start. It will turn over but will not start. Sometimes if you turn it all the way to off and try again it will start, sometimes it takes 6 or 7 times before it will start. I had it checked out today at a local shop. Everything tested out ok fuel pressure ect. Also, no check engine light is coming on and it is throwing no codes. Timing belt was changed 4K ago. Please help.

 

define hard starting not spin over or take long time to start or what details.

 

Sorry I didn't explain it very well. When the car is cold, been sitting 3 hrs or longer it starts just fine. After it is warmed up and shut off, it will turn over just fine but will not start. If you turn the key to off and try again it may start or it may take up to 7 trys to get it to start. There is no loss of power when running, or stalling out. In fact it runs real smooth. I had it to the local shop and there were no codes stored. I have not got a check engine light. The fuel pressure was tested and was fine.

 

Fuel Pressure stated as OK. Must be 58 +- 5 at all times. Leave gauge on, run engine to temp and shut off for a few hours. It must hold. Have seen some leak down when hot (fuel regulator in tank fail to properly seat when hot)
Next Throttle body/ IAC (Idle Air Control) may need to be removed and cleaned. Crusty IAC may stick when hot causing hard/ no start.
Both above cost next to nothing to do.
Hate to say throw parts at it but we have seen cases where Crank and or Cam sensors fail when hot and not setting codes. If you change them use OEM only as aftermarket ones do not last.

 

Ok, I have apt on the 6th with it. I will post results. If all else fails I will replace both sensors.

 

Well I had the Crankshaft Sensor replaced with A OEM replacement. No change. I ordered a new OEM Camshaft sensor today. Will keep updated with the results of that replacement

 

Update: I replaced both the Camshaft Sensor and the Crankshaft Sensor with OEM parts. The problem continues. Specifically, when the car is cold ( sitting 2 hrs or longer) it starts right up. After it is warm and shut off for longer than a couple of minutes it will turn over but will not start. You need to do a key dance shut off wait 30 seconds then try again. After 3 or so tries it will start. Fuel pressure has been tested and is good. The car runs great, to stalling, bucking , loss of power ect. PLEASE HELP

 

NO stalling ect

 

Hello. So I just joined this forum today because I am having this exact same problem. This has been an ongoing issue for over a year now. If I get up in the morning and go to work, then come out several hours later, car will start fine and my commute is normal. But on a day off, if I am out running errands to multiple places, I will inevitably encounter this issue.

I have a 1999 Chrysler Concorde, 3.2L. Car struggles to start when engine is warm / hot. I have been researching this problem for quite a while, and while I believe I have identified why this is happening, I do not yet have an actual solution. Hopefully someone will be able to shed some light.

I first noticed this particular issue when it compounded alongside another issue. In short trips the car would run fine. Longer drives, 20 miles or more, at some point the car would begin to chug, and eventually stall. At that point it would not restart again until the engine was cool. Then I could proceed for about another 20mi before the same thing would happen again. The stalling was due to a crankshaft sensor giving inaccurate readings when warm, and ignition system would give up. Sensor was replaced, and I thought all the issues went away.

However, I again started to occasionally notice a starting issue. Only after the car had been running for a while. Sometimes a little bitty starting issue, sometimes a stressful wtf is going on kinda issue. My initial suspicion was that perhaps one of the injectors was sticking open, and leaking down into one of the cylinders, flooding it out, causing a rich condition leading to a no-start. Because I would smell a fairly rich odor when the car would eventually start again. I temporarily dealt with this reoccurring problem by holding the pedal down to the floor when starting, thinking this would air out the rich cylinder... It often helped. If holding the pedal down didn't quickly initiate starting, I would slowly raise my foot up, giving less throttle, till eventually finding a sweet spot where the car would start. Most of the time this was effective. I thought to myself that one day I was going to drive the car around, come home, pull the plugs, and try to smell what cylinder was fuel rich, and eventually replace that injector. However I have not yet done that.

Finally, while sitting in a parking lot one day waiting for the car to cool and start again, I researched this problem on my phone I came across an answer.

Supposedly, Ethanol in gasoline might be the problem here. From what I have read, it is possible that the ~10% Ethanol, which is added to gasoline nowadays, is vaporizing in the fuel rail, causing a gas/vapor bubble, and disrupting the delivery of fuel to the engine. While some cylinders are not receiving fuel, other are and could be flooding out? As more and more gas stations adopt the practice of adding Ethanol, this problem is happening more. Apparently Ethanol vaporizes at a lower temperature than gasoline. Once the engine is turned off, the fuel pressure slowly drops as it bleeds off past the fuel pressure regulator back to the gas tank. When the fuel pressure drops, the heat from the engine is sufficient to cause the Ethanol to vaporize in the fuel line, creating a gas/vapor pocket and disrupting the fuel supply.

So, if this IS the case. I still don't know what exactly to do about it, other then try to avoid gas stations that add Ethanol. But that's not always easy. From what I understand. The car was never designed to run any % of Ethanol based gasoline, and so there is no OEM part designed to fix this problem. But I will tell you want I do to minimize the disruption to my day for now.

1. If I plan on going anywhere, I plan to be there for an hour or more. Grocery store, friends house, wherever. I make sure I leave time for the car to cool. As I never have an issue with cold starting.
2. If the car is warm-ish. I will cycle the key 6-10 times on-off, priming the fuel pump several times, in an attempt to push fuel into the rail and push out the vapor/gas bubble.
3. In rare occasions of complete starting failure, I have pushed the little zerk fitting, fuel bleed of, valve stem looking thing, on the fuel rail. Very gently. If it burps a vapor/gas, I attempt to bleed that out. But if it sprays out liquid fuel I try to avoid letting that hit a warm engine. So this is a borderline stupid this to do. But I've tried it once or twice more or less, in an attempt to discover more about, and confirm what is happening. So while I'm NOT SUGGESTING this, it's something I've carefully, perhaps foolishly, attempted to do.
4. I have heard a suggestion of opening the gas cap, while cycling the fuel pump. The fuel system in any EPA regulated vehicle is a sealed system. By venting the gas tank it supposedly helps the fuel push up through the the fuel lines easier, and purges the gas out.

So I make this long a** post because I know how frustrating this issue is. I thought I would give as much information as I could to help others diagnose and handle this problem. I will likely copy and paste this in a few other posts, to both share this knowledge, and reach out to anyone who may have answers. I am reluctant to take the car to a shop because I have read other posts where people have paid $$$ to have a whole list of parts thrown at the problem with no resolution. And honestly, at this point I feel like I understand more about this issue than I could ever explain to another tech. I will continue to attack this problem. Feel free to also email me at drskoot @ that popular email company that starts with a G, if anyone has any other questions or answers. Much love.