Another with long crank issues here. I'm in the UK and engine is a 1.6.
So, if there is a common issue causing the long cranks, then VVT can't be it, as an EU 1.6 doesn't have VVT.
Also, although the car battery is original and so several years old it shows 12.5V in WeConnect after resting for days. Plus my long cranks are in warmer weather (I think) so rules out battery I think.
I need to find time to rewatch videos I took of cranks over several months but I'm fairly certain the long crank is ambient temp dependent, worse in summer (a heat wave here is mid 20s C and up), no issue in winter (generally 0-8 C). But it may also be fuel tank level dependent (worse when full). Can't be RH as it is 80%+ here from summer through to the end of winter.
I've seen at least one person, located in Switzerland, reporting short cranking at their particular low temperatures, longer cranking at their particular warmer temperatures. So maybe any temperature relation is about the offset from one to the other, rather than absolute ambient temps. They appear to strongly believe the cause is injector drift but my issues started at less than 20000 miles on the clock, which seems way too early for injector ageing that causes drift.
If I immediately stop the engine after cranking, 2nd crank will almost always be quicker, most often by 3 or 4 shots (sorry, don't know the technical term for the multiple shot/cough noises made during crank), but very occasionally longer. If I then switch off immediately again and leave the car for a few minutes, the 3rd crank also tends to be longer (not as long as 1st) and the 4th shorter than3rd.
On some of the long cranks the crank clearly stumbles/splutters just before starts (ie feels like the engine catches for a fraction of a second, loses it and then soon after cranking again successfully starts). But I suspect the stumble/sputter is more common as I think I can hear it faintly/briefly on recordings where I didn't notice it at the time.
I also had 2 possibly related issues. Fuel smell and misfires/surges/loss of power.
I noticed the fuel smell outside the car last week when it was garaged and I'd cycled the ignition (not starting) multiple times. But I think maybe there is also a fuel smell immediately after starting that I would not normally have any way of noticing.
Re misfires, I mention these because the major misfires happened within at most 4 or 5 miles from home and the same days would have long cranks. I think I've had plenty more misfires but by the time I've parked at destination I've forgotten details t note down. The major misfires were up to 10+ bucks/jerks in a row, and they all occurred in cruise control at 20mph or 30mph on I think just 4 short local stretches of road that all have slight inclines. They also seem strongly related to either a regen being due to start within a handful of miles or one having completed a handful of miles before I completed my previous trip. When I was experiencing these misfires I also experienced very low power in 1st gear on a handful of occasions and at least 2 surges, similar speeds to above.
I've read lots of threads and made a list of suggested causes. But does anything stand out from all of this as a likely culprit please? Or, as importantly, clearly not a culprit?