Commodore vt help?

Question

When I start my commodore it sometimes only starts on the second go. This is very evident when the engine is hot after a long drive or on a hot day. Is this normal or something to be worried about.

Answer 1

I own a shop, and know what you mean. This is not necessarily a problem. When you turn a vehicle off after driving it on a hot day, the temprature of the engine continues to climb for about 5 minutes due to the coolant no longer circultaing to cool it down. When an engine heats to these type of tempratures, so does the fuel. Engine's run best on cold dense fuel, due to the amount of oxygen that mixes with the fuel. When fuel is heated, it will boil or vaporize, and looses almost all of its oxygen content due to this condition. The result of this is; an engine that will become hard to start. Combine this with the piston rings not sealing as good, and the cylinders not making as much compression, and you have an engine that is hard to start. If the piston rings doesn't seal well, the cylinders won't have the ability to compress the mixture, and the mixture being low in oxygen content, makes for a less than desirable condition for an explosion. Think of it as packing dynamite, the tighter its packed, the better the explosion will be. In short; yes I would say this is pretty normal for an engine on a hot day. I have a race car & truck, and on hot days we cannot go as fast, but once the sun goes down the vehicles come to life, and go faster than any other time of the day. Most vehicles are tempramental anyway, some more, and some less. If you had this conditon all the time, then it would be something to worry about, but I really don't think you have anything to worry about at all.
Glad to help out, Good Luck!!!

Answer 2

3.8 ecotech? Please be specific asking your question. GM may be suffering from fuel pump leak down. Try cycling the key on and off two or three times to get the fuel pressure up then crank it over. Then a fuel pressure gauge will show you and the technician pressure drops to zero. Then it takes a couple attempts to get the car running.