5 to 7 Elephants

XJ91 · Mar 4, 2004

Lately the tempature has been in the region of 37* to 48* this past week.

My crank time to start has lenghtned recently. Takes a good 5 to 7 seconds to start. I faired better start times in the dead of winter -5* to 10*.

What can I check? My battery meter on the dash shows a strong 13V - 14V.

Battery connections under the hood are OK.

rj454 · Mar 4, 2004

Sorry, no clues, but where the h*ll is G'Nagiwanka???

XJ91 · Mar 4, 2004

rj454 said:
Sorry, no clues, but where the h*ll is G'Nagiwanka???

It's Native Indian for "Great Land" :thumbup:

Çrestfa||en · Mar 4, 2004

actually the exact same thing has been happening to me, Takes it longer to start up when she is cold than normal. And it's not nearly as cold as it was this winter. The only thing that I have done to it that would probably cause that is take out my stock air intake system. So I have a lot of open vacum tubes and stuff. I'd maybe check that stuff.

small pederson · Mar 4, 2004

youre temperature isnt going above 48 degrees farenheit?

imma honky · Mar 4, 2004

Have you tried letting the pump prime up first before attempting to crank?

5-90 · Mar 4, 2004

Two things spring to mind...

1) What year XJ? I ask this simply because the ECM on the Renix XJ (1987-1990) doesn't start sending triggers out until the CPS senses 300 RPM. 5-7 seconds crank before start is perfectly normal for my 88, and I don't worry about that...

2) I don't know where you are, so I'm going to assume that the temperatures mentioned are in degrees Fahrenheit. When I was growing up in Lafayette, IN, the best way to see if your battery was worth a damn was to wait until wintertime - the cold weather was the best check of your battery's condition anyone knew of. If is was coming on October and you were having trouble starting - time to change the battery.

Past that, I don't know what year XJ you're running (you didn't mention, and you really should...) so if the starter motor is starting to wear, that is something else that bears looking in to... Typically, tho, it's the battery in cold weather starting troubles.

5-90

XJ91 · Mar 4, 2004

imma honky said:
Have you tried letting the pump prime up first before attempting to crank?

Yes, I do prime, if I don't it takes a bit longer to start.

5-90 said:
Two things spring to mind...

1) What year XJ? I ask this simply because the ECM on the Renix XJ (1987-1990) doesn't start sending triggers out until the CPS senses 300 RPM. 5-7 seconds crank before start is perfectly normal for my 88, and I don't worry about that...

2) I don't know where you are, so I'm going to assume that the temperatures mentioned are in degrees Fahrenheit. When I was growing up in Lafayette, IN, the best way to see if your battery was worth a damn was to wait until wintertime - the cold weather was the best check of your battery's condition anyone knew of. If is was coming on October and you were having trouble starting - time to change the battery.

Past that, I don't know what year XJ you're running (you didn't mention, and you really should...) so if the starter motor is starting to wear, that is something else that bears looking in to... Typically, tho, it's the battery in cold weather starting troubles.

5-90

1) '91, Auto

2) I converted Temps to Fahrenheit. I'm in Toronto, Ontario. So actually it's been 2*C to 9*C over the past week or so. While in the dead of winter -20 Celcius, -4*F, my XJ would start up on 3 to 5 elephant count.

My concen is while temps are starting to warm up a bit this is starting to happen. Did not happen during the fridged cold though Dec-Jan months.

I guess I'll have to take my battery in for a load test maybe?

Majo · Mar 4, 2004

Do you have a pully that is stuck and your belt is sliding over it?

Thats how my buddy scored a 95 wrangler for 600 bucks in excellent condition, guy had same problems, too prideful to take it in cuz he didn't know what was going on. Turns out alternator was stuck and it wouldn't start cuz the belt was sliding over the frozen pully. He pays for the thing we run to auto parts store, come back and put a alternator on, on the side of the road start it up and drive away....guy well wasnt' too happy to say the least

Maybe your alternator is starting to stick or something, have someone check to see if your belt is sliding over any particular pully during startup.

5 to 7 Elephants

XJ91

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rj454

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XJ91

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Çrestfa||en

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small pederson

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imma honky

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5-90

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XJ91

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Majo

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