bigd480

My car is a 97 GLE with 200k miles, mostly highway, and has been pretty well maintained (bought it 10 years ago at 44k, never seen anything but premium gas and Mobil 1, all maint done on time by me or .org members).

I have been having an annoying hard starting issue for about a year. Thought it was sporadic but then this last tank I noticed it was a lot more common when the fuel level was below 1/4, though after refueling it still seems to happen some.

What I've done (not all just to address this, starter/alt died from age around 190K):

-New battery, alternator, and starter (alt/starter are actually new, not reman)
-Did the grounding kit (4AWG wire, 5 points including starter to battery and bell-housing to battery)
-Recently replaced fuel filter (300zx)
-No gas in fuel pressure regulator vacuum line
-No codes (only ones I ever had was KS and broken evap valve)
-Getting about 25mpg doing short high-speed trips (28mpg on hwy long trips)
-spark plugs (OEM NGK) have about 30k on them, haven't looked at them
-ECTS seems to be good (i have an Ultragauge and the reported temp seem pretty accurate and I'm assuming it's using the ECTS and not the one for the temp gauge)

On the occasions the car takes a while to start (usually <5 seconds), it also stumbles for a split-second when it does actually turn over, like as if it were idling too low. Normal idle is fine though and many times (80% of the time) it starts fine. I know half the org has dealt with these issues so I thought I'd see if anyone else has ideas, particularly regarding parts that could be problematic but don't throw codes (my KS has already been replaced).

Trying to figure out what to diagnose next (injectors/coil packs/pull plugs?) in order of likelihood (not much time to work on car, have a 2-month old and a 60-hr/wk job).

Thanks for any tips

bobflood

When mine started doing this, it eventually turned out to be the crank position sensor at the driver's side front (CKPS POS), at the junction of the engine and tranny. Never threw a code, and sensor ohmed out OK; shop finally put a scope on it and saw that the signal was erratic. Replaced it just over 2 years ago; not a bit of problem with it since. Good luck.

cashoit

yup...Cranks sensor...100 bucks new from autozone.

You can try to clean it with a dry rag, but once it becomes too fouled for too long, it loses its magnetic properties and just wont send a start signal to the ECU.

Also, clean the TB and MAF.

U can test the camsensor too just to rule it out (the test for the camsensor is a simple resistance test) but im willing to bet the crank sensor is completely fouled

nsnrider

iTrader: (59)

i just replaced the fuel injectors on a 5th gen for a hrad start with no cel codes. No it starts on a dime, runs great.

If CPS checks out fine, and car runs fine when eventually starts up then I would suspect leaky injector(s).