98 Dodge Caravan 3.8L V6
Just replaced fuel pump & fuel filter. No van takes more cranking to start. Instead of 1 to 3 second cranking previously, it now takes at least 5 to 10 seconds before the engine fires. After that it runs fine. Any ideas? Could it be that the 3 hose fuel filter is hocked-up wrong?
Put a fuel pressure gauge on the fuel rail. Turn the key on for a second or two, turn it off, turn it on again for a second or two. Turn the key off and watch the gauge to see how long it takes for the pressure to bleed off.
The fuel line should hold substantial pressure for quite a while. If it doesn’t do that, find out why.
By the way, you can probably eliminate the 5 to 10 second grind on the starter by doing the key on for 2 seconds, key off, key on for two seconds again thing before engaging the starter.
The new pump may be letting the fuel leak back into the tank do to a leak in the one way valve. Your thought about being hooked up wrong may be correct also so check that out. You may have tied to a return line instead of the output line. See which line from the pump outputs fuel.
If the van started so well before, why did you change the fuel pump? What was the problem? The things that were wrong before, are still wrong now, and are causing the slow start.
A poor start is often caused by poor tune of the engine. Some of the things to improve tune are: spark plugs, air filter, fuel filter, checks on spark and fuel pressure, cleaning of the engine intake track, and MAP, and idle air control valve.
Old fuel pump was making high pitched sound for a while… and then it quit completely. Turn the key, NO fuel pump sound & absolutely no fuel pressure. Hence the replacement!