Help! Hard Starts Normal?

I have a 2014 4Runner Trail that I've had for about 8 months. Since I bought it, once the engine is warmed up, if I turn it off for ~10-15 minutes then start it again, it will have to crank for up to 3 seconds before it fires up. When it's cold, it starts immediately. Warm, it has that delay where it has to crank for a while.

I've had it at the dealer twice and they can't find anything wrong. Since they're worried about "warranty problems" it would cause them (read: lemon laws) they refuse to work on it anymore and are now claiming it's "normal." So, my question to you other owners is: IS IT? Is this just some poor design work on Toyota and they're just hard to start when the engine is warmed up? Or is my dealer trying to get out of a sticky spot?

 

I wouldn't say mine starts hard, but it takes an extra second from what I'm used to (on my old truck ) for the engine to start. Several times in the first few days of ownership I would crank it and release the key before the engine would catch, because I was anticipating the engine to catch, but it wouldn't.

Can't speak for hot v cold as I've never really noticed that, and 3 seconds seems excessive. There is weird emissions stuff on these that does stuff after the engine is off and within the timeframe you mention. That may also be the culprit, which would be normal.

If it starts, I wouldn't worry about it. You still have 2 years of warranty left; if it quits starting then that would clearly be a warranty issue.

 

Thanks for that. That's kinda the way I'm leaning at this point - I'd like to hope it's normal and it's just a much longer start than I'm used to. I wouldn't have a second thought if it didn't start up right away when cold. I'll probably just watch it and see how it goes. Unfortunately, I only have about a year left since I put a lot of miles on my baby.