Engine start hesitation? Battery issue? or Fuel?
 

Hey

Newb question ahoy

Got a 04 XT Forester

Noticed late last night heading home that when starting the car up it hesitated slightly, made a real quick chirp (sorta like an alarm noise) and then started up, usually fires up straight away.

(it didn't crank repeatedly, it sorta just hung on the first crank, hesitated (sorta like it starting a car with a dead battery / bogging down/dip in power) chirp/noise, fires up) - Battery dying?

This morning it did it a little slower, got to work and turned it off, and started it up a few times, no hesitation / noise at all, fired straight up

Left it for a few hours (approx 5) did the same thing on initial start up, then was fine.

Started yesterday, the other thing that occurred that day was, filled the tank up from about 5lts from bottom. so could it up stirred up any muck in the tank and jacked up the filter?

Or is the battery on the way out?

Cheers

I'd say battery's on the way out champ. Reason it didn't do it with you tried to start it after getting to work would be because it had been charging all the way. From what you've said, it only does it after leaving it not running for a while ie. over night.

cheers matt, was starting to lean towards that conclusion

It could be any number of others too man, but for what it costs for a new battery, it's worth a shot. There's a chance that it's the original battery, so it would surprise me if it's dying.

[QUOTE=mattmy99]It could be any number of others too man, but for what it costs for a new battery, it's worth a shot. There's a chance that it's the original battery, so it would surprise me if it's dying.[/QUOTE]
Could be a loose wire on the starter motor, could be a dodgy earth somewhere.....Could be the battery doesn't have enough fluid in it to charge properly. If it is low top up with pure distilled H2O, clean any gunk off the battery terminals with a toothbrush and warm tea (no milk or sugar) then dry the terminals and coat with a generous serving of Vasoline to help prevent the buil-up. Enjoy!

Check your chassis earth points first.

I had a similar issue too, replaced the battery only to have the same issue appear 200 km later. cleaned up the earth points and fixed the issue.

After initially checking the leads/terminals etc, took it to battery world for a free check, bingo, was the battery wasn't holding it's charge, original battery, 4 years isn't too bad I guess.

Thanks again