has anyone thought of taking it into the dealer and letting them load test the battery? Maybe there is a bad cell inside causing this intermittent problem. I would definitely check the battery to make sure it's ok.

 

hey erynne936, was this ever resolved?

 

possible the fuel pump has not pressurized the fuel rail and the injectors are not spraying.......had this problem on a dodge once,changed the battery groundstrap,starter two times..........all the fuses.......and it was the fuel rail did not have instant pressure.......mostly happened on cold mornings..........give it a second for the fuel pump to pressurize the line and it will start........

another car did this when I put in 92 octane..........computer could nto advance the timeing enough to ignite it..........wenbt back to 87 and it started right up everytime......

Aslo could be the panasonic battery in the car.........or dirty terminal......loose wire......on and on.........hope that helps somewhat.

 

simple test.. three words.. battery load test

 

My 07 has done this 3 or 4 times. When this happens it always starts on the second try.

I also had this issue with my 2001 Celica GT.

I think it maybe a vapor lock issue?? I dunno.
('')

 

everyone is getting really technical with this. here is my answer to this problem. and so far no starting problem. (cold starts after left the car over night or 12+ hours off)
knock on wood.


i began having this issue about 2 months ago, and i had just finished doing a full tune up. i had been using regular. which over here in el paso,tx is 86 octane. then my dad put super/premium which is 91 octane. all we have is 86/88/91. i went from getting about 360 miles a gallon to about 390. then the next time 415. then about 410. so i stuck with the 91 octane due to the increase in gas milage. i also thought that i got an increase in millage since my drive to work now is all highway and i put it on cruise control at about 55-60 mph.

anyway, my car had been having a hard time starting so i thought it was the spark plugs. so i bought bosh fusion platinum iridium plugs. and nope it still happened.

i put several gas treatments and nope. still was happening.

i even took it to the dealer, and since i have a cold air intake, the guy said it would be $80 to diagnose the problem. he told me that the intake was causing the issue and to take it off. but they would still charge me 80 to diagnose. i said no way, and went online(here to scionlife.com).

everyone had different fixes but some still got the starting problem.

so i decided to put a few of these together.

i took off the MAF sensor ( the one on the intake) and i cleaned it with carburator cleaner.

i cleaned the throttle body, also with carburator cleaner.
since i had heard that the oil in kn filter could dirty the sensor and i thought it was causing my throttle body valve opening thing to stick.

i also cleaned the inside of the intake tube. with just water.

i also am using 88 octane, since we dont have 87 octane.

i also put in some fuel system cleaner. i forgot what brand but its in a gold bottle. about 7 dollars.

the first time i started it, it sputtered a little, but this was because of all the dirty stuff that i cleaned out in the throttle body.

now whenever i turn on my car in the morning, it turns on just fine. no more cranking and cranking and car feeling like it was choking.

i hope this helps some of you. so far its been about 2 weeks, and i havent had any issues.

worth a shot, in my opinion.

i copied this into a few of these starting problem posts.

 

I have had problems starting after a lot of stop and go parking; errand running. After 3 or 4 times the car actually has to work to startup, but first thing in the morning it starts very smoothly.

 

im wondering if this is a "hot soak" condition with deposits in the engine/fuel system. that's what it sounds like, that when it's cold, starts fine.

might want to look into finding bgproducts "44K fuel system cleaner" that you dump into a nearly empty gas tank, then fill up. That would remove deposits in the engine and fuel system. I've tried other product before never worked, but 44k did.

it's hard to find sometimes, can just go to their website to find a local store. www.bgprod.com.

 

Yeah, I had a pair of hot days this happened, '07 Manual.

But hey, worse comes to worse, you're under warranty still righ'?

 

using 44k fuel cleaner with a tank of gas should remove the deposits and return this to normal. That's the cheap $20 (how much a can of 44k costs) fix. If that didn't work, you'd have to go in and have the induction and whole fuel system cleaned professionally. and that's $$$.

You'd think it'd be covered under warranty but i've heard excuses upon excuses from dealers not to cover anything. Who knows what they'd make up to blame you for this problem.. Probably something like "oh you are buying bad gas"..

I am thinking here. Does it happen after the car is started? Once it's moving along, is there any hesitation at high speed? I'm wondering if it's the fuel pump not maintaining the pressure to the fuel injectors. First thing is to use the 44K cleaner, then if that doesn't solve it, a look at the voltage coming from the fuel pump, if that's fine, then a full fuel system cleaning down professionally. Hope that helps.

 

why so many treads about problems starting a scion? damn, i should have bought a honda. scions are still new and kinda experimental not yet improved their cars.

 

that engine though is from the camry. toyota must've changed some things in the engine, it's not completely identical. I have a feeling that the tC's engine is sensitive to gas quality. other engines dont' care.

If the 44K fuel cleaner stuff doesnt work for those affected, I'm going to start to wonder if the MAF sensors installed in these cars weren't contaminated when installed. If the people who have these problems, don't have cold air intakes (the oil from some of those air filters can mess up the MAF sensor), then I'd say that a dirty MAF sensor is from the factory. As some of us with factory air filter housings, have the starting problem, other's dont.

 

just to let you guys know, i recently changed to synthetic....i haven't had a problem starting ever since. it starts up nice and strong now....not sure what the relation is, but it doesnt do it anymore!