Ben Jackson wrote:

Normal summer start always looks like the battery is dead, i.e. one blade
goes by and the prop stops turning, ignition back to off, then crank again
and it fires up immediately.


I flew a 182 like that and the standard procedure was to pull the prop
through about 4 blades during the preflight or else you'd have to 'rock'
it to start (like you describe). Not sure why pulling it through would
help.

This is the classic case of a starter adapter going bad. Fix it soon as
you are introducing metal to the oil as the main shaft goes bad.