Long Cranking Time on 99 S70 GLT

[abscate]

Poke around the friends forum to see if there is anyone nearby with the tool, too.

[Cricket502]

Good idea, I'll look there and see if anyone is nearby.

I spent a little while this afternoon looking around under the hood, and I noticed a couple things:

1. The middle fuel injector looked a little wet all over and black on one side. Could just be oil from the oil cap leaking, since that's the closest injector to it, but I wiped it off as best as I could and I'll keep an eye on it to make sure it's not leaking or something. It may have smelled a little more like fuel than the others, but it's hard to say.
2. Checked my oil after the 30 second drive into the garage and onto ramps, and I noticed what seemed like a lot of bubbles at the bottom of the dipstick. I swear the oil smelled a little like gas too, but after 30 minutes or so the bubbles were gone and the oil smelled normal.
3. Found a vacuum hose that was completely unattached to the intake manifold, on the right side if you're looking under the hood from the front of the car. Not sure what it's for, I couldn't be sure but it looked like it went from the intake manifold to the PTC nipple area on the driver's side behind the engine. Plugged it back in and clamped it with a hole clamp.
4. Took the car for a test drive. It still took a little bit of cranking to get going but had no issues driving, though when coming to a stop twice the engine seemed a little rougher than normal for a second. It was idling smooth when stopped, but just before then it seemed to hit a rough patch for a second. I checked the CEL codes and now have a new P0335 code for the Crankshaft Position Sensor A Circuit. Not sure when exactly that came up so I cleared the codes and will see if it comes back.

I'm not sure if the crankshaft position sensor could cause a long cranking time, but it doesn't seem like it could be related to a complete loss of fuel pressure overnight. I'll try checking for any fuel pressure after just one turn of the key in a few hours or tomorrow and see if I get anything to come out of the schrader valve. Not sure how much the pressure is supposed to bleed down, but if it were working right it should have plenty of pressure after turning the key even once.

[misha]

Loosing pressure overnight in fuel rail is completely normal.That's why the system is priming everytime you turn the key in position II before starting.Excess fuel is returning to a tank via return line leaving the fuel rail without pressure.
Crankshaft sensor indeed can affect starting and making problems of long cranking you're experiencing.Total failure of crankshaft sensor will lead to not starting at all,just cranking.
Keep an eye to that sensor code.
After reconnecting that vacuum line to intake manifold,which is for pcv system,you should disconnect negative battery cable for 10-15 min in order to reset fuel trim.
Make sure that you have a radio code before disconnecting negative cable if you have factory radio.

[abscate]

I did some ME7 (1999 on) fuel pressure Measurments and learned some cool stuff here

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=84101

[Cricket502]

That is interesting... Good to know roughly how quickly and how much the pressure bleeds down.

I wasn't able to check my fuel pressure after a single turn to position 2 this morning, the hood was frozen shut after the snow and ice we got overnight. My thinking is that I should have decent pressure there after the pump primes once, if the fuel pump and check valve are good.

However, as the car was cranking this morning (a little slowly, due to the temps) it skipped a beat and it seemed like the car lost all power for the equivalent time of 1.5 cranks. No cranking, clicks, or any sounds. The dash lights went out and I think the overhead lights went out too. Then it resumed cranking as normal and all the lights came back. Worth noting I didn't disconnect and reconnect the battery yet after reattaching the vacuum hose.

Is that still a sign of the crankshaft sensor? Or maybe the starter or something? Despite that new issue, no new engine codes on my way to work.

[abscate]

That sounds like a potential ignition switch problem or a problem with wiring harnesses under the kidney fusebox under the hood.

The -1998 guys don't have that fusebox, we are 'special'

The 1999 model had a VIN break on the ignition switch - the new one is less prone to failure, the old one starts pooping the sleeping area at about 120k miles.

Part number 9447704 up to chassis 587536 (last digits of VIN) - about 120k life

Part number 8650054 from chassis 587537 - longer life - fewer reported failures

About a $60 buck part.

You can open it up for inspection per a couple of threads here

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=80191&p=432286#p432286

[misha]

...as the car was cranking this morning (a little slowly, due to the temps) it skipped a beat and it seemed like the car lost all power for the equivalent time of 1.5 cranks. No cranking, clicks, or any sounds. The dash lights went out and I think the overhead lights went out too. Then it resumed cranking as normal and all the lights came back...

Sounds like frozen starter(due to cold weather and it's age) in combination with weak battery to me.
It could also be bad ground or bad positive B+ cable(from battery to starter).

[Cricket502]

The battery is maybe 2 years old so it should still be good, but who knows. I'll check the battery cables and see if any look bad, and Google how to check with my multimeter to make sure.

I'm hoping it's not another wiring problem... I had enough of that last summer. Though recently at autozone I pulled the handle to pop the hood and my headlights flashed as I pulled the handle, which was the only time I've ever seen that happen. It did it twice as I pulled the handle, but not after I slammed the hood shut and tried it again. So I can't rule out a random wiring issue, haha.

I replaced the ignition lock cylinder a couple years ago, but I don't think I changed the ignition switch. I'm at 220k miles and have had the car since 120k, so maybe I have a longer lasting one. I'll look into that and see if I can take it apart.

[sleddriver]

To OP:
My recent cold-start trouble was traced to a faulty fuel pump relay. I fixed it and no more issues. How old is yours?

Also note if either the camshaft or crank position sensor wiring insulation is crumbling and the wires happen to short or ground, the ECM won't be able to maintain spark timing, resulting in missing, hard starting, sudden cut-off, etc.

Point being: Not only can the sensor be at fault; so can the wiring. The sensor can be fine, but the wiring insulation rotted off, and/or the harness connection plug itself is Tango Uniform.

A '99 is now > 18yrs old therefore wiring insulation & connector integrity can become issues.

[Roger_850T]

Not that I want to give you more things to randomly replace, but... I've seen old ignition systems lead to hard starting issues.

Plugs, wires, cap, and rotor should all be replaced regularly to keep things running right.

I also found that I had a fair number of "pathetic start" issues as the coil got older. The spark gets weak, and just doesn't light off the mixture as well, especially when cold. Eventually I bought a brand new coil/module unit, and it starts better, and a whole host of "weak start" issues went away.

For me, I put in a used one at 249k miles, and a brand new one at 271k miles. With the new one, it started better, and also solved a some "random misfire" issues that were really annoying me. Thus, for me, it was money well spent.

Good luck!

Roger