Another Hard Starter

rikhek · June 23, 2003

My 5.3l is quite often a pain to start. About 75 - 80% (very rough % estimates) of the time it starts immediately as it should.

The rest of the time I need to crank on it 2 - 3 seconds and it seems to help if I give it some gas like you would a carburated engine, not pumping the accelerator just giving it steady gas to mid throttle position. This might even be my imagination but it does seem to help get it started. Once I get it to catch it idles low and stumbles for a few seconds until I give it some gas and rev it a bit to get it to "smooth" out. Once it is going it runs fine.

Also, there doesn't seem to be a noticable pattern to when this occurs. It can happen when cold or hot. If I HAD TO take a position I'd say it does it more frequently after the first start of the day after it's sat a while and cooled down but it's hard to say, it really seems to happen randomly...It's driving me nuts. Any advice would be appreciated.

BTW, the truck has about 55k on it and the fuel filter was replaced at 50k so I seriously doubt the filter is an issue.

ALSO, I read the Sierra5.3 link regarding hard starting but it sounds like his does it ALL the time as opposed to intermittently like mine.....

Thanks.

Rick

96 Vortec · June 23, 2003

Sounds like the symptoms that my fuel pump started giving a couple months before replacing it.

chev_tech · June 25, 2003

Fuel pressure regulator leaking internally into vacuum line. Pull the vacuum line off the regulator, there should not be any fuel in there.

rikhek · June 25, 2003

Thanks for the response, especially from someone who knows what he's talking about (at least by your sig of "Chev_Tech" I assume you know that to which you speak!).

One question, where is the fuel pressure regulator located and will there be only one line coming off it? I am mechanically capable, I just have no idea where on the truck it's at or how many lines come off of it.

Thanks in advance.

Rick

AirForceAngler · June 25, 2003

Something else you might try first is to make sure you don't turn the key all the way to the stop when starting. My 2000 Silverado began having problems starting. It would crank and crank and crank. Then after a few tries, it would start right up. Took it to the dealer and they said it was the ignition switch and it didn't work when turned all the way. They wanted about $200 to fix it. I figured it was cheaper to just not turn it all the way.

bigtruck21 · June 26, 2003

I heard something about the ac line going right on top of some electrical piece (maybe the distributor) and needing to be moved because condensation could drip down and mess up the electrics. I don't know if that's the case here though.

lowflyer · June 26, 2003

Your fuel pressure regulator is under the engine cover, on the driver's side, between the 3 & 5 cyl coil pack. Good luck.

rikhek · June 26, 2003

I pulled the vacuum line off the fuel pressure regulator as suggested by "chev tech" and there was a significant amount of fuel in the vacuum line. I'll be getting a new regulator today.

Thanks for all the help guys. Saved me a trip to the dealer.

Rick

bigmack · June 26, 2003

Folks,

Started having a hard start on my truck this week --> 96 5.7 L. Will take 5-10 seconds to start with muitiple "misses" or near starts through that time. then idles and runs fine.

Did run the truck out of gas this week (yes I know... tons of mental sharpness) so I will be replacing the fuel filter this weekend with the expectation I sucked up some crap. Any fuel regulator inspections (like on the newer models) etc I should do that would be quick and help if further diagnosis is required.

Any info on the tasks and the relative locations etc would be helpful.