Long term starting issue on 04 v6 silverado

[Vi 1]

I've owned my Silverado 4.3l v6 since it was new and have had this problem for about 10 of years. It starts fine the first time but after it's shut off for a while (say 15 to 30 minutes) it won't restart unless I turn the key just to let fuel pump (counting for 3 seconds ) then continue pushing the key over to start and it works every time. When it first started happening it was so intermitent we couldn't make rhyme or reason of it. It sounds like it's trying to crank but doesn't. Even after letting go of the key it contines to sound like you're pushing the key all the way to the start position. At the time, my son the diesel mechanic, suggested I not take it into the shop because unless the service guy could get it to happen to him, they might just mess up more than they fixed. He came up with the technique to hold the key on for a 3 second count and I've used it every since. Now it has 122,000 miles and has become more common. I was just hoping someone had some insight into what might be going on. I'd like to get it fixed but not at the expense of causing a new problem. Any ideas would be appreciated.

[PJB1972]

_{I doubt any reputable shop would make the problem worse...}

_{But from what I gather from your post, It sounds as if you turn the key to "run" for three seconds and then turn the key to "start" to get it to start it up, correct?}

_{If that is the case it sounds like you are losing fuel pressure over time and it takes the pump a few seconds to build that pressure back up before it will crank.}

[NitroCherokee]

Pull the vacuum line of the fuel pressure regulator and see if you have fuel leaking out of the regulator

[Vi 1]

_{I doubt any reputable shop would make the problem worse...}

_{But from what I gather from your post, It sounds as if you turn the key to "run" for three seconds and then turn the key to "start" to get it to start it up, correct?}

_{If that is the case it sounds like you are losing fuel pressure over time and it takes the pump a few seconds to build that pressure back up before it will crank.}

Thanks for responding. It does sound reasonable that it's losing fuel pressure over time. But isn't it odd that it can sit for days and start on the first try everytime?

As far as taking it in for service, I took my other car to the ford dealership for the fuel gauge not reading correctly. They pulled the tank off, replace the float I think it was and never checked to see if it corrected the problem. So I had to take it back in 5 min. later and they found a fuse or sensor under the dash had gone out. I got to pay for the labor to pull the gas tank off. So yes, they can make it worse.

[Vi 1]

Pull the vacuum line of the fuel pressure regulator and see if you have fuel leaking out of the regulator

We'll give that a try. Thanks for the help.

[PJB1972]

Thanks for responding. It does sound reasonable that it's losing fuel pressure over time. But isn't it odd that it can sit for days and start on the first try everytime?

As far as taking it in for service, I took my other car to the ford dealership for the fuel gauge not reading correctly. They pulled the tank off, replace the float I think it was and never checked to see if it corrected the problem. So I had to take it back in 5 min. later and they found a fuse or sensor under the dash had gone out. I got to pay for the labor to pull the gas tank off. So yes, they can make it worse.

They didn't make it worse, they just didn't fix it the first time.

I'd be looking for some sort of refund for the labor at least and stay away from that dealers service department in the future.

 

And yes, that's a valid point, re: sitting for several days and starting on the first try every time.

Best of luck tracking it down, I'm stumped.