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2005 LT - Intermittent - Crank OK, but Rough or Difficult Start

17K views 6 replies 4 participants last post by  red98snake 
#1 · (Edited)
2005 Chevy Malibu LT (6 cyl 3.5L) Front Wheel Drive Automatic 67500 miles

Occasionally when attempting to start the vehicle it will either:
* Roll over and start, but hesitate and die the second after it starts
* Fail to roll over (less common)
* Roll over and start, fight a low idle and recover with the RPM jumping over 1.5 (this is without me ever touching the gas)

This tends to happen intermittently, in other words, not every start. The cranking sounds and feels strong... and no different from any other start. In fact, there are good number of times where it starts up fine. However, when it does show one of the two symptoms above, it is rather persistent unless you:

* In the case where it rolls over, give the car a little gas by stepping on the accelerator.
* Do a choke start (described in the manual as fas petal to the floor when starting the car)
* Wait 30sec or so and try again

Once the car is running, it's seems fine in all regards and has never stalled. Just recently another symptom arose. The car began to hesitate waiting idle at a red light only a minute after having started it. Hesitation was good enough to cause the car to rock. Light turned green, I gave it gas and it seemed fine for the rest of the trip. This has happened but once.

My initial thought was spark plugs, tune up. Someone also suggested the PCV.

Finally, it what seemed like an unrelated issue to me, two times in the life of the vehicle thus far has the instrument panel gone dead while driving. That said, I was pointed to GM PIC4677D. However, that bulletin seems to be related to OnStar Vehicles which my vehicle is not equipped with.

Any thoughts?

EDIT 1: Oh, quick note regarding any warning lamps. No lamps seem to act outside of expected during all of this. The SES light has never come on either in the 67500 miles thus far. In the two cases where the Instrument panel died, I pulled over as soon as possible. Shut the car down and restarted. Everything was fine. The two isolated incidents were roughly two years apart (happening in year 2 and 4 of ownership).
 
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#2 ·
The instrument cluster on the 2005 Malibu gets all the data through the serial data interface. The illumination circuit is separate and tied to the cabin interior illumination. Thus, it may or may not be relevant to your start problem, depending on what actually "died."

There's a lot that goes on when you turn the key on. All the vehicle electronics have to wake up and the fuel pump has to prime (build up pressure). As soon as you turn the key to start, some of these same electronic modules lose power and thus starts the wake-up cycle again as soon as the key is released. Everything has to work just right or you can get weird problems.

Often there're stored diagnostic codes that do not necessarily turn on SES. If you have access to a decent OBD scanner, post snapshots both before and after it's warmed up. Maybe something will jump out at us. If not, take it in to a reputable shop and get it checked out.
 
#3 ·
My 04 does the exact same thing, I've looked all over the net to find other cases but my search turned up empty but I haven't had my gauges go dead though. Does your car sometimes sputter and the rpm's needle go up and down around the 1500 mark or growl and hesistate after letting off the gas pedal then stepping back on it?? I have had my car into a few places but everyone gives me a different idea of whats wrong: fuel injectors, fuel filter, ignition, starter, etc...
 
#4 ·
I've seen or at least noticed the variation in RPM after it starts rough. Between 1000 and 1400 roughly. The tac was jumping around too when the car was rough idling at the stoplight incident noted in my first post.

Aside from routine stuff (oil, tires, etc), I have changed the air filter at 35K (STP SA7597) and added the GM branded fuel cleaner at 66K. That's why I'm wondering if a tuneup might help (plugs, wires, airfilter)

Starship: I think I'll try picking up a good OBD scanner, probably one that ties to a laptop. Any recommendations? Seems like a CAN capable scanner is what I need for this vehicle. I tend to do my own work on vehicles, and dislike taking my car in for diagnosis since I have yet to find a reputable shop in the area and figure most places won't or can't spend the proper time on a good diagnosis. I've gotten away with simple scanners in the past, but it may be time to upgrade.
 
#6 · (Edited)
Update 1:

Did a quick check on the air filter and changed it out this past Monday. The old one was probably barely passable and was part of the tuneup I have scheduled anyways. (Although I still haven't had a good block of time to change the plugs and wires)

Incidentally, the frequency of the main problem seems to have dropped since then with just the filter changed. Although it did happen a few times (3 specifically) and I was able to get it started by just trying again a few times.

Furthermore, I got the OBD2 scanner I ordered today and proceeded to hook things up and check out figures while the car was on, but not running. Gathered a few figures and left the car in that mode while using the laptop to browse the web (looking for typical figures). I noticed after a bit (about 15 mins or so) that the radio was displaying "Service Air Bag" and that the lock light was solid.

Concerned that the reader may have shorted something or whatnot, I disconnected them and turned the car off and was entertained to see the radio go nuts when doing so. I tried to restart the car and *nothing* - well except the sound of electronics going crazy. Power windows were slow but functioning and from what I can figure, the battery was run down. Something that shouldn't be that easy to do in 15-20 mins.

So I pulled the battery and put a DMM to it. 11.6V, yikes. Seeing as how this is the OEM battery (rated for 5yrs), I'm not terribly surprised, but I'm wondering if it may partially be to blame for the original issue. I've experienced week battery starts before, and the original problem never struck me as such. Perhaps the pushbutton like start changes things. I'll be changing the battery out tomorrow.

I'll likely post a few updates as I try to isolate the problem. Since it's intermittent, they may be a week or so apart.
 
#7 ·
I have the same problem, I have put in a new battery, new plugs, an oil change and even had the transmission serviced and it is still occasionnally doing it. The battery is about 3 months old, the oil change and trans service is about 1.5 months old and I did the plugs about a week ago. Good luck. Let me know what you find.
 
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