2020 Continental Hard to Start

[edburnette]

When I go out to start the car first thing in the morning all I get is a "click" when I push the start button. This happens 3 or 4 times and then the car starts. I take my foot off the break and reapply each time. The Battery is fine, I have changed the relay in the fuse box and my local garage ran a computer check on the vehicle and came up with nothing other than test the battery, which he did, and check the key fob batteries. Now the kicker is, this ONLY happens on the initial start-up of the day. The entire rest of the day the vehicle starts on the first try. And this happens every day. Doesn't make sense to me. Oh, and the key fob batteries are fine also. ANY suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Neutral Safety Switch? But why only on initial start-up??

 

[Action]

The starter circuit does not have a lot of parts. It is rather a simple system. None of them are related to electronic engine controls. So, no codes will be generated with a bad starting system.
The description you give is a poor connection or a lack of enough current getting to the starter to work.

The click can be from a relay. (Starter relay)
Or the starter solenoid on the starter.
These two items would be suspect on poor connections.
The other thing would be the heavy cables. They have to be clean and tightly connected?

You state the battery is good. But little detail about how the shop tested it. Load tested?
If it is the original, the battery is five years old. There is an acceptable level of parasitic draw. But it is a draw none- the less. On a marginal battery, even an acceptable parasitic draw my pull the battery down over night that it does not have enough power.

Lastly based on what you wrote, you are not doing the work. And the professionals are not fixing it.
Those professionals should know how to diagnose it. OR suggest, leaving the vehicle over night so they can experience it.
They should also have an ammeter that can measure the amount of current being moved through the starter/battery cables.

If it were me, I would be finding a new shop.

Action

PS creating two threads on the same topic is not the best way to start using a forum.

 

[batchman]

I'll second Action's notion of needing more info to declare the battery "good", focusing instead on "enough". Given your symptoms follow an overnight, I believe the first step in a current cars' declining battery function is the car going into battery saver mode, aka "deep sleep". Sounds like your issue is about recalcitrance in waking up. If I have to guess, and that's all I can do, your first interaction is opening the door and pushing start. If you aren't already, maybe worth a try hitting unlock on your fob to see if that helps it get conscious in the morning?

GL,
- Jeff