Wifes Escape with the 3.0 has been progressively getting harder to start. It spins over just fine, but now takes between 3 to 8 seconds to actually fire.

In the last six months the alternator, spark plugs, air filter have all been replaced. Engine runs perfectly, never stalls and seems fine in every other way. I've cleaned the throttle body and the IAC is working fine.

Did some troubleshooting and sure enough, we are getting no spark for a few seconds and the engine runs fine when it finally gets spark.

Would this be the crank position sensor? Cam position sensor causing this? Not sure what is supposed to happen during the starting sequence in regards to what sensors are in being read by the PCM and then enabling spark.

 

Pulled the camshaft sensor out and cleaned it. It had a slight bit of silvery metal on the end of it. Wiped it off, put the sensor back in and it starts just like it used to. I'm surprised this worked as it was very clean other than the little tiny bit of stuff on the end. Would have taken a picture of the gunk if I knew it was going to make it work better.

We will see what happens in the next few days if my wife says anything. Probably started it ten times and each time it fired almost instantly.