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Key turns but car doesn't always start

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5.5K views 18 replies 15 participants last post by  prio  
#1 ·
I bought a 2015 4C a couple of months ago and I was wondering if this was normal for the car. When I get in the car, put the key in and let the dash boot up, then go to start the car; sometimes there is a pause before it starts, sometimes it starts right away, sometimes it doesn't start at all. Also, if I just get it and turn the key to start it without letting the dash boot up, and the beep is still going on, the car will start and other times it won't. Is this normal, is there a trick to this? The car has the Euro V2 ECU. Thank you!
 
#6 · (Edited)
I bought a 2015 4C a couple of months ago and I was wondering if this was normal for the car. When I get in the car, put the key in and let the dash boot up, then go to start the car; sometimes there is a pause before it starts, sometimes it starts right away, sometimes it doesn't start at all.
Patience my young jedi knight, Patience... The time to starting the ignition sometimes takes a few seconds or might start right away. It has to do with the transmission switching into neutral or some diagnostics thing that takes a while. There are two basic solutions, keep holding the key, or turn the ignition off then on again. So, bottom line... No issue, don't worry about it....
 
#10 ·
FYI: 4C has a pressure senor on the brake line so regardless of how much you push the pedal, if not enough pressure is not generated, the car won't start.


How do I know that? I had dismantled brakes on my 4C and at the same time I installed Alfaworks race ECU. I was killing myself why it won't start even though I had depressd the pedal. Once brake system was bled, it started.
 
#15 ·
Agreed on the brake pressure. Had similar issues when i first got the car, but got the hang of it after a few weeks.

Once my dad had to move my car, and he tried but couldn't get it started. When i was able to get back home a few days later i really struggled too. He had managed to pump the brake pedal to a point where it had no slack. I had to press very very hard on it to get the brake engaged enough to start it.
 
#19 ·
Once my dad had to move my car, and he tried but couldn't get it started. When i was able to get back home a few days later i really struggled too. He had managed to pump the brake pedal to a point where it had no slack. I had to press very very hard on it to get the brake engaged enough to start it.
OK, I'm replying to an old post but it fixed my problem and I had to say thanks. I changed my oil and did the the "pump the brakes 6 times" thing to reset the oil change indicator. Afterwards, the car wouldn't crank. Everything lit up like normal, the transmission switched to neutral on its on but no cranking. Thinking the pedal dance may have confused the computer, I unhooked then reattached the battery. Didn't crank. Left it disconnected 5 minutes, blah, blah, blah. Still didn't crank. Of course the pedal gets stiff when you do this and I had noticed it felt even stiffer than the other times I've done the reset so when I read your post, I knew that was probably it. Hopped back in, pressed the pedal -really- hard and it fired right up. Whew! You'd think after using it as a daily driver for 4 years I would know all its quirks. So thanks!