8.1 Trouble Starting When Warm

[firemanwill28]

Wondering if someone can lead me in the right direction. I have a 2002 2500HD with the 8.1 liter and have been having a transient starting problem for the past year. The vehicle starts fine when cold and runs strong cold or warm and tows excellent. My problem occurrs when the vehicle is around 160-180 degrees after a short 3-5 mile trip; it does not want to start. It's done this around 10 times in the past year. The engine has 72,000 miles and tows about 1000 miles a year.

 

The check engine light has never come on and there are no codes stored. It happened yesterday after a 3 miles trip and would not start up for 20 minutes. I pulled one of the plugs while it was not starting and there was no spark. This would lead me to believe there is a bad sensor which is not allowing the computer to give spark. I'm just looking for options here and to see if anyone else has had a similar problem.

[hockeypro1411]

I had the same problem with my John Deere lawn mower. Turns out the ignition coil was getting extremely hot and causing it to not work. This probably has very little to do with your truck, but I though I'd share my exciting story.

[Shaners]

I wonder if your crank position sensor is going bad.

[firemanwill28]

I've read that the crank position sensors had a problem in my years but this seems to be acting different. Don't the crank position sensors cause the vehicle to die while running? Is there any way of testing these?

[Shooter_va]

I've read that the crank position sensors had a problem in my years but this seems to be acting different. Don't the crank position sensors cause the vehicle to die while running? Is there any way of testing these?

 

Mine did the same, at first hard starts for a year or so and then it started to cut off while driving. I only drive the truck about 5k mile per year.

 

Changed the sensor a few weeks ago and didn't have any issues so far. Don't know if there is a way to test them, but they sure are a PITA to change. If you do, use plenty of lubricant, the old sensor has two o-rings and they can be pretty tight.

[firemanwill28]

Thanks Shooter mine sees about the same mileage a year also, which is probably why I'm not seeing the problem as much. Since this is a known problem I'll probably replace it and see how it goes.

[Shooter_va]

Thanks Shooter mine sees about the same mileage a year also, which is probably why I'm not seeing the problem as much. Since this is a known problem I'll probably replace it and see how it goes.

 

Bought my sensor online (Rockauto), was about $30.- less than the dealer.

[firemanwill28]

Thanks again, that beats the $103 the dealer wanted just to look under the hood. $30 and some elbow grease is a better option.