Last week I jumped in my car to go home and it would not turn over. Tapped on the starter and it started very hard! We went through and changed the spark plugs and no difference. Fuel pressure is 42 suppose to be 43. Starter tests good.Cleaned throttle body. Have a 6 month old battery in it. When the car is hot it starts right up, but if you let it sit it takes for ever to fire (continues to turn over). Put on the computer and it is not telling us anything. The mechanic want's to put in a new computer($900), is this necessary and would the scanner not show us that there was a problem w/ the computer? Please help I am lost!

 

Didn't you post this aleardy?

You have two things going on, first is your hard start when cold and second is your starter.

As far as the cold start problem goes, check the following:
One of your crank position sensors may be failing, there are two, one is called POS for position and one is called REF for referance. We have seen these fail and NOT throw codes. (no check engine light)

Your engine coolant temp sensor may not be giving the correct engine temp to your ECU when the car is cold. That would cause a hard start because the ECU doesn't know to provide extra fuel to the cylinders to get the car started when it's cold. (sort of like a choke on a carburated car)

Do yourself a favor and stay far away from the mechanic who told you that you need a new ECU. He obviously is only guessing at whats wrong.

You also have a starter that is failing. The "tap on the starter" to make it turn over is telling you it's about to fail. It could be the starter itself or the solinoid thats starting to fail.

Go buy a Haynes Shop manual, the tests for all the sensors are layed out nicely in that book. It will make trouble shooting your car very easy.