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mitch96

Hi.
Just wondering if you could tell me why my car lately has been taking longer to start in the mornings.
It does sit outside every night. It is a mazda familia 1.5 doch vvti fuel injected engine. The battery is about 2 months old, and its shows green so its all good.
Normally the car starts instantly. It will still start instantly after spending the best part of 10 hours in the staff carpark outside at my work.
On colder mornings over the past few weeks or so (mind you were havent had any extremely cold mornings, perhaps from about 6-10 degrees ), the car will take the best part of 2 seconds of pushing the key right down before it idnits and starts. I realise this isn't extremely bad, but I am a pedantic person and I want to get the most out of my car always and for it to last me a long time despite already being 15 years old.
Is this normal, or are there factors that could be causing it and that I should look out for?

ABayliss

If the engine is turning over at normal speed (which I'm assuming it is), it could be a few things. Possibly old spark plugs can cause this symptom and would be the first (and easiest) thing to check.
Other possibilities could be problems related to the fuel system such as low fuel pressure (perhaps due to weak fuel pump, blocked filter etc), a faulty temperature sensor or even (although maybe less likely) injector problems.
If the engine is slow to crank, even though the battery is good, it could be the starter motor, a poor battery connection or engine earth strap.

mitch96

As related to my other post, I will go about replacing the spark plugs first. The engine is turning over at normal speed, and is not doing it slowly. Would you be referring to a blocked fuel filter or air filter as both relate to the fuel system?
Thanks

ABayliss

I was referring to the fuel filter, although potentially both could cause running problems. Generally speaking, a blocked air filter won't cause cold start problems, although if it is blocked it definitely needs to be replaced.

mitch96

Ok thanks. Thats good to know. I mean as I stated, it was never bad and will always start first pop, just some mornings took longer than other times. I do hope that the fuel filter never really becomes an issue, as I believe it is within the fuel tank. What I might do as preventative maintenance is pour a good quality fuel system cleaner in the tank the next time I fill up. Its likely it is the spark plugs or something similar but ill do the fuel system cleaner just in case aswell, it can never hurt