Hey all,

Every once in a while I will try to start the car, and it will turn over and not start. I can let it turn over for a good 10 seconds without it firing it up. I can then turn the key back to run, then try starting it again, and it will fire up like normal. For the longest time I couldn't figure this out.

After a while I noticed something that I believe to be a big clue. I noticed that every once in a while when the car wouldn't start it would fire once just as I started to turn the key back to run. Once in a blue moon this is just enough to start the car. So, I'll turn the key to start, the engine will turn over for however long I hold it there, and just as I start to turn the key back to run the car will fire a couple times and start up very non-gracefully.

This tells me that this is a problem with the ignition like I'm not getting spark sometimes. However, the reason I'm posting is because I don't really know what VATS does (or what it stands for, or how it works). Could this be a VATS problem, or does my ignition just have a bad connection?

 

Might be the electrical part of the ignition switch itself.

 

Mine does something like that every once in a blue moon but only when the engine is up to temp (hot restart). I'm thinking my starter is getting heatsoak and not working right. One of these days I'll have to try to get it on video to post it on here.