2007 pt cruiser engine needs to start twice

[TDFF]

Originally Posted by ptcruisersteve

I remember a few months ago when one of the cells in my battery was going bad it took two times to start the engine. After I replaced the battery I didn't have that problem anymore. Try taking it to an Autozone or an auto parts store where they will test it for free.

I will do that. Thanks.

[TDFF]

Sorry for the late update. I was really busy in the past.

I checked only a few things by myself. There were no codes and if I turned the key on-off a few times, the car started fine. But I didn't have time to check the battery.

One extreme cold day in Dec., the battery died so I replace it, but the problem remained. Finally I had time and let a Chrysler dealership check the car. They checked almost everything: fuel pump, fuel pressure, starter, alternator and spark plugs and reset PCM and couldn't find the cause. They did confirm the hard-start problem though. Finally they tested the vacuum tubes and found a small leakage. Somehow fuel didn't leak out but air leaked into the fuel line (or fuel injector I cannot remember). Small air bubbles cause the engine malfunction when start. The amount of air leaked in was so small that the problem only occurred when the car was left alone over a long time. At the end they replaced some tubes, and car became good again.

So I guess my car had an unusual problem here

Thank you all for the help.

[06_PB6_TOURING]

Originally Posted by ptcruisersteve

I remember a few months ago when one of the cells in my battery was going bad it took two times to start the engine. After I replaced the battery I didn't have that problem anymore.

I've worked on a few cars where a battery had a shorted cell and cranking voltage fell too far for the engine computer to work. This was an actual shorted cell not the generic " it has a short ". The end result is a 10V battery that will crank just as long as a good battery since capacity hasn't gotten smaller, just the voltage.

With modern starters, they sound pretty much the same even when voltage is low.