What could be starting to fail in my 2002 Pontiac Sunfire?

[Luis R]

Stupid question since it's probably going to sound very vague, as I am no way car smart. But here we go.

My Sunfire has run fine as of late, with the exception of the radiator and a radiator hose that had to be replaced thanks to a now dead raccoon on the highway, (don't ask).

Anyway, I filled up with gas on Saturday and then went off to work. After I closed, I sat in my car and turned on my car, to be welcomed by a long, gurgling/hissing sound as it started, and my radio clock reset back to 12:00. My first thoughts, obviously, is "uh-oh".

So far, my car is still running fine, though every 5 starts or so it will reset my clock. It's still making that long gurgling/hissing sound as I start up, (and it stops RIGHT as the car turns on completely), and it's just annoying me to no end. I know this is going to hurt me, as lately my car's been nothing but problems.

Here's some other little tidbits that might help:
It's at 97,000 miles.
Oil gets changed regularly.
Check Engine light came on for one day, then off again since Monday.

Any thoughts?

Myself, all I can think of is either the fuel injector, or the spark plugs. I pray it's the spark plugs. Those I can probably do. Fuel Injector? Pssh, I'm still paying off the stupid radiator repairs...

Help?

 

[HeadTater]

I don't think that would be the radiator or the plugs. The battery may be going bad. If you have the original battery in it, it has been in the car for a fair amount of time. If you haven't replace the battery, it wouldn't be a bad idea to get that done anyway, even if it is not the problem. My advice is to go to Autozone or somewhere like that and get the biggest, baddest, cold cranking (if you live in an area that get's winter) Interstate battery that will fit in your car.

In my experience Interstate is a good battery brand (I had one that worked for a week on half the cells after an accident without any issue).

 

[timothyklatt]

My 2002 Sunfire (78k miles) is acting very similarly. For a few weeks, I was getting this gurgling/staticky noise when starting. I noticed that making sure the AC was OFF before starting helped this. The clock would reset occasionally after making this noise. CHECK ENGINE light never has come on. On a road trip, after we'd gotten to our destination, the next morning the car was completely dead. Battery checked out OK at Autozone, so I reconnected it and the car started again. It died another few times, so I would jiggle the red wire on the battery and it allowed me to start it. I replaced the bolt that connects the red wire to the battery terminal. This helped for 3 weeks. Now I'm back to the same problem of it making the noise. Now, I'm getting warning lights on the battery, EBS, and TRAC systems. If you get anywhere, please let me know.