Two months ago I bought a brand new 2003 WRX (sedan) and I absolutely love it. Unfortunately, I am having a little problem. Sometimes after the car has been left outside for several hours, the engine won't turn over on the first try. When I turn the key, the engine keeps trying to turn over but just can't do it. It's not like it just clicks or something; it will actually try to turn over. Then I stop turning it, wait a second, and try again. It will then start almost immediately.

At first I thought this was related to leaving the car in the cold (below 50 degrees--cold for us Northern Californians) for several hours. However, yesterday the problem was a little different. I left the car outside again, but it was over 50 degrees and it was only about an hour that it was there. I had basically the same problem except this time it took three tries to start it. I took it to the dealer last week for my 3,000 mile oil change (first service), and they said they couldn't find anything wrong with it. I want to take it back to the dealer but I would like to bring a specific list of things for them to check. Any ideas would be much appreciated.

Thanks for your help.

 

One approach is to always turn the key to the "On" position for two seconds to let the fuel pump prime before starting the car, however that really shouldn't be necessary. Did the dealer hook a tester up to the battery, or just say they couldn't reproduce it? Have them test it if not.

 

When cold my car starts super fast. When warm (anything less than 3 hours since last time I started it) sometimes it takes a second try with the key to get it started.

Odd, but no big deal. It never fails to start on the second try.