Bought this truck used with 124000 miles. This previous winter, truck would turn over, and over and over and not start on cooler mornings. It seems as the day warmed up it would start and once started runs fine except for a wickedly schizophrenic key fob and door locks. That’s another problem story for another time! Took to local mechanic who looked and tested for a couple of days with the result being an electrical harness (?) was malfunctioning. I do not remember the name of the harness. The shop developed a work around of some sort however it has not resolved the issue effectively. Since then, even in the current warmer months, there is some unusual ( to me) hesitation in starting. To my knowledge there have been no identifiable computer codes directing us to possible solutions either so I now turn to your expertise to provide particular advice on another vague vehicular description of a problem.
Since starting an engine cold has the highest fuel demand, I would check fuel pressure. Should be 59 PSI plus or minus 5PSI if I’m not mistaken.
Is this the v8 or the diesel? If it’s diesel, you usually need to run the preheater on cold mornings to avoid excessive cranking. I don’t have specific experience with your truck, but usually that involves turning the key to “on” until the heat symbol light turns off. It looks like this:
and you’re supposed to wait until the yellow bar drops to 0.
Shadowfax
It is a gas engine. Thanks for the heads up though.
Pete
I’ll check on fuel pressure.
Matthew
Have you tried pulling the air filter and spritzing some starting fluid into the intake?
Checking the fuel pressure, very good idea as posted above. That’s where I’d look first.
Starting gasoline engines is always the most problematic when they are cold. The engine needs much much more fuel to start when cold than when warm, I’m guessing as much as ten times as much. And cold starts, that’s when it needs the hottest spark too, which when cold the battery or ignition system might not be producing either. So consider a marginal battery or faulty ignition system as a cause too. Problems with air flow either in or out, or compression problems could be a culprit too. So if all else fails, make sure the engine air filter is clean, the cat is not clogged, and do a compression test. Best of luck.