When I start the car in the morning or whenever, it cranks really rough. I'll give it a second, and then crank it again and give it a little gas (not sure if that does anything) and after some more rough cranking it will start up. Once it's started, it idles just fine and runs great. I'm pretty sure the problem is the starter but just want another opinion. I don't think it's injection or anything related to that as it runs just fine after it's started. And just to get an idea, it's at 116k with the stock starter, so I wouldn't be surprised if it's time to get a new one.

 

any error codes?

 

dont give it gas its fuel injected let the computer handle that. if you cant start it without pressing the gas youve got a problem.

 

its possible to be the starter. Greese is drying up, you crank a few times and it doesnt start. When it does it will start a bit rough as its burning off some of that unburn fuel from the previous cranks.

How are you spark plugs?
IACV clean?
TB clean?
PCV clean? (you can soak this in carb cleaner and it will break up most carbon deposit inside)

 

My car has this problem a little when the temp is 40 or below, dunno.... cleaning the throttle body helped a little

 

Have you had any tranny work done recently? If so the ground to the starter side of the tranny could be messed up. I had to run a ground to my starter to cure terrible starts. That thread is in my sig...

 

A "rough crank" leads me to believe you have a starter failing.