Rep Power: 0

I'm planning to take my car in to get it checked out this afternoon. It's a 2005 civic with 157K miles.

• A few days ago I noticed that it took maybe one or two extra cranks for it to fire up in the morning. I didn't think much of it since the issue seemed to resolve itself throughout the day.
• Yesterday morning it took even longer...I thought, OK, now I need to start troubleshooting. I read that this could be a problem with the battery, fuel pump, starter....or something else. I went home and cleaned up the battery terminals hoping that was the fix. (the battery was installed in Sept 2008 btw)
• This morning I go to start it and again it's slow. But this time as the engine was finally turning over I noticed that all my instruments/needles shook like crazy for 2-3 seconds. I drive a mile or so and stop in for coffee. I start the car again (after a 5 min stop) and the car starts up normally...maybe 2 turns of the engine.

So battery? Since the starting issue resolved itself after a 1 mile 3 min drive this morning, should I be looking at something else?

Thanks everyone

 
Rep Power: 518

You talkin about extended crank time, or are you talkin about slow crank speed?

5 year old battery? Get it tested.
Cheapo? Could be....sulfated.
Did someone leave a dome light on?
Is the AC compressor clutch stuck on?

Could have a slow drain on the system.
Those cars usually have a draw of about 20 milliamps or less. If the car is stock (electrically) and the draw is more than 50mA then something is probably going on.




Long crank time: Does it do this with a full tank of fuel? Seems like a lot of these cars crank longer when the tank is lower than about half.

 
Rep Power: 186

I had a similar issue about a year ago, maybe longer. It ended up being battery. I took it to O'reilly's where I bought it and the guy testing said it had low CCA's. It was at like 350 vs the 500 CCA's. I was pro-rated, new battery and have been good ever since.