96 engine problems

I start the car on the first try and it will turn over but not start. On the second try she turns on. Whats UP

I start the car on the first try and it will turn over but not start. On the second try she turns on. Whats UP

Any other information?? Miles? State of tune? check engine light? Other symptoms?

It sounds as if the fuel is draining back into the tank after sitting for awhile and it takes a bit of time for the fuel pump to push fuel up stream. Try turning ignition on and waiting a few seconds before starting and see what happens. On my daily driver, not a GM, I can hear the fuel pump buzz as it pressures up the system so I wait until the buzz stops and then I hit the start.

Well the car has 130,000 miles on it, I don't know when the last tune-up was done. My son bought the car 5 months ago. We took it to AutoZone and they ran a OBD sensor and it came back clean "no problem". I think we will have the fuel system and the injectors clean as well as give it a tune up. I hope this will help it out. Does that sound good to you guys :).

A tune up is good but I suspect (can't prove) that you are losing fuel pressure at shutdown. Perhaps the fuel pressure regulator is weak or the fuel pump chekcvalve(if it has one) is faulty. I would guess at shutdown enough fuel remains in the system to start her up but then the fuel pump has to play catch up and keep the injectors filled and redy to squirt. I am not familiar with the fuel pump system on the Mercury's (does the fuel pump have to come up to speed at key to start position or is fuel always available in the rail). Try turnng key to on but not start and waiting 15-30 seconds before you try to start the car and see if that makes any difference.

I had a 1988 BMW 750 and she had similar problem and a mod was available to add a check valve in the fuel line just forward of the pump (in tank pump) so that fuel could not drain back to the tank at shutdown and this worked.

I don't know if your still working on this problem or not but I've read that the Idle air control valve on the 96 GM tends to stick causing hard/no starts.

Thanks, but the car is now in Florida with my son..