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Hi guys, recently I've been having an issue with cold starting my 2012 Honda Civic. This is something that has started recently as the car has not always been like this and typically fires up pretty quick. The car tends to turn over for probably 3-4 seconds before it starts and will sometimes stumble at initial idle, but then straightens itself out. If I turn the car off say 20 seconds after I initially started it and try starting it again, it'll fire up just fine. At first I was thinking it was probably the battery, I checked the voltage and it was around 12.5V, which is not terrible, but also not great. I had a load test done on the battery and the test came back ok. I checked the battery again the next morning and it read 12.46V. Since it was lower than it should be, I replaced the battery anyway, so I can rule that out. With the new battery, It's reading 12.7V after I drove it, and it read 12.7V the next morning before I went to start it (just so I could rule out something that could be draining the battery overnight).

I then read that I could have a bad ground somewhere, this sort of doesn't make sense because it's only the first start of the day that my issue arises. If I had a bad ground, I'd assume I'd have a starting issue every time. But I did go through them and clean up the contact surfaces. My next thought was a bad starting motor, but this also sort of doesn't make sense since its only the first start of the morning that the car turns over longer than it should. I also read that it could be a fuel issue, and that the fuel pressure could be leaking off while the car sits overnight, so I tried turning the car to ACC to let the fuel pump run, and repeated this 4-5 times, but it still did not seem to solve my issue.

So here I am, looking for any insight from you guys. Has anyone ever had a similar issue?

Thanks!

 
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Depending on the load tester used you can pass with a dying battery (not a compleatly dead one, but one on the way out).

And you never check voltage for battery health, you check amperage, specifically cold cranking amps.

The shop needs to use a digital tester , to check cca.

......

If you cant find a digital reader to scan cca then the easiest method for you to check, would be to jump the car when it usually fails. Let's say it only fails in the morning after sitting all night, then jump it each morning for three mornings. If the issue is resolved, then it's your battery.

 
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As stated above, I ended up replacing the battery, just so I could rule out the issue being a bad battery.

 
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Oh, sorry, my bad.

It could be a parasitic amperage loss. Sometimes one of the cars circuits is open and slowly drains the battery.

 
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No worries! Now in regards to a slow drain on the battery, I checked the voltage of the battery one night just after getting home from work and it measure 12.7 volts, the next morning before starting the car I measured it again, 12.7 volts. But still had the weak start. I’m at a loss!

 
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Fuel injector seal/o-ring?

 
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please i have the same problem. are you solved it, if you solved it please tell me dohsh77@yahoo.com

 
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are you sure because i have the same problem

 
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Did you get the problem resolved?

 
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I also have this same issue. Please reply if you find a solution. First cold start is always around a 3 sec crank. Every other start is within a second. I also replaced my battery and still have the issue. Only diagnosis that i got for my battery was that it was low reserve capacity which made me think it was the issue. Im starting to think it may be a fuel pressure issue but gonna have it looked at in a couple days

 
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Try sitting for a few seconds with the ignition on before hitting start and see if it starts better