slow starting

May 21, 2005 1 Replies

Lately my Explorer has been slower to start; it does start and run OK, but I have noticed that it has to turn over a little longer before starting.



What should I be checking to cause this?



The engine hasn't had anything done to it since I purchased it new, May



2000. Except of course, oil changes and regular maintenance. New battery about 8 months ago.


2000 Explorer Limited



65500 miles
5.0 V8

My 99 5.0 did the same. In my case, I had a fuel injector that was leaking. That flooded the cylinder with the bad injector, and also caused the fuel system to lose pressure - so the other cylinders were not getting enough gas when you turned the key to start. It took 2 to 7 seconds to start and begin to smooth out the idle.

First, put some new plugs in if you haven't had new ones for awhile. Read your old plugs carefully. If you have a bad injector, the plug for that cylinder will have heavy deposits on it. You will have seven good clean plugs to compare it with, so it should be obvious. Make sure you remember what cylinder the bad plug comes from.

Also, while you are at it, clean your idle air control valve and your MAF. There are plenty of instructions on the internet for that. This helped out starting, idling when cold, and generally made the truck run a littls smoother in my case.

Hope that helps!

Post back if the above doesn't help.

If new plugs and the cleaning

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