Why is it hard starting?

KOHLLINK

MEMBER
2000 CHEVROLET EXPRESS
112,000 MILES

2000 chevy express 3500 hard starting. Truck sat for months. Truck strated right up. Put gas and sea foam in the tank now it takes a shot of ether to get the truck to start. Bad fuel regulator?Could it be a bad coolant sensor?

when we started the truck the thermostat seemed to stick turned the heat on to fix the stick. Trucks temp is fine now. Truck runs fine. Just needs a shot of ether to start. I know that I should test the fuel pressure to get more details. The fuel pump is new.

6 Replies

FACTORYJACK

MECHANIC
4,159 POSTS

Is this gas or diesel?

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Tuesday, December 27th, 2011 AT 7:46 PM

KOHLLINK

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80 POSTS

Gas

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Tuesday, December 27th, 2011 AT 8:09 PM

FACTORYJACK

MECHANIC
4,159 POSTS

Will it eventually start upon cranking, without the use of starter fluid? Ideally, as you suspected, a fuel pressure reading at key on would be recommended. Once verified that it has proper pressure(about 45 psi key on), then you could look at fuel quality as a possible issue. At over 100k, has the spark plugs been checked. If they are original, that is another possibility to consider.

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Tuesday, December 27th, 2011 AT 11:17 PM

KOHLLINK

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80 POSTS

Eventually it does start without the ether.

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Wednesday, December 28th, 2011 AT 12:35 AM

FACTORYJACK

MECHANIC
4,159 POSTS

Sounds like the pressure is slow to build in the rail. This could be result of leaking past the regulator into the return, or the regulator diaphragm into the vacuum system.