Car cranks for ever before starting, any clues?

My friend has a 2002 Intrigue GLS, the one with the 3.5L I believe. I read some codes a year ago, and found the Crankshaft Position Sensor to be bad. I bought a new one, and installed it. I didn't do this CPS sensor calibration, or whatever I have read in previous posts on this forum. Anyways, it fixed the problem, and the codes went away.

About 6 months later his car will crank over when its cold and not start, then he stops cranking, waits a second, and cranks again and it usually starts within about 3 or 4 seconds.

Any ideas? I was thinking maybe it is the fuel pressure regulator, or even a bad fuel pump? I haven't checked the fuel pressure yet. I have checked for any stored OBDII codes, and haven't found any.

I read some stuff on here about rough starting, and it lead me to CPS sensor, ignition terminals, etc.

Thanks for the help!

...Tim

The problem you describe could be caused by the crank position sensor, or the fuel pressure regulator, or about 8 other things.

Everyone I am aware of on this board that had the crank position sensor problem was seeing codes for the crank position sensor stored in their PCM so it seems unlikely this is the problem.

I am the only person I know of who had the FPR fail and that is easy to check as you look for gasoline in the vac line from the FPR to the TB. Also this problem caused a rough and erratic idle as well as tough starting.

Unfortunately you need to start digging into things. Check fuel pressure. Check the spark plugs. Keep digging until you find something unusual. Wish I could be more helpful.