My 07 GT has recently taken much longer to crank and start. I think it might be the colder weather (30-40s). I normally drive the GT only in the spring/summer/fall, where the lowest temp is 50 or so. I have a brand new Advance Auto Parts Autocraft Gold battery, so I don't think it is electrical.

I had installed a Steeda cold air kit last summer, but all last year, the car took a fraction of a second longer to crank. Now it is to the point where it takes 3-4 seconds of cranking to get started.

I still have the fuel (93 octane with Sta Bil) from last year in the tank, but all last year I was running fresh gasoline.

Any ideas? It seems all of my Fords start to do this at one point or another.

 

The thought occurred to me that the MAF sensor might be dirty. Has a hard start issue plagued anyone else that had a dirty MAF sensor? I suspect it is from the Steeda CAI filter.

 

Fuel filter been changed?

 

No, it's the original with just under 11k miles.

 

I cleaned the MAF sensor to no avail.

The GT is DEFINITELY harder to start below 60 degrees or so. At 60 degrees, it will start with less cranking.

At 30-40 degrees, the cranking is at normal speed. The car has a brand new battery and I can feel the starter working at full speed. The engine doesn't stumble or stall when it starts in the cold. The only problem is that it takes about 3-5 seconds of continuous cranking to get the engine fired up when it is colder than 60 degrees.

I've rarely driven the GT in this weather, it is normally driven only above 60 degrees. So I am now feeling the TR-3650's reluctance to shift in the cold as well.

I have not changed the engine oil though, it is still the stuff I ran last year. I normally change it once a year with fresh synthetic xW-30.