Cold Start - Fuel issue?

Morning all,
Been a while since I posted last. It's getting a bit colder here in MA and when i went to start my truck this morning it has plenty of crank and runs just fine, however when i turned the key it wanted to start but also acted as it we starving for fuel, it puttered and never fully started. I turned the key off and tried again, after cranking for a few seconds it sputtered, caught and started right up and has run fine since. This is all after sitting for 10 hours or so in high 30 degree temps.

Any ideas on what might be going on here? Fuel issue? the battery is less than a year old.

Thanks very much,

 

When was the last time you changed your spark plugs?

 

Spark plugs?

 

Swapped them out probably 8K miles ago with my 90K tune up.

 

Same issue here. Just the truck expressing its displeasure with the coming weather. I just gas it a little more to let it know who's boss.

 

It could just be the cold weather, but its usually more of a hard crank when it starts getting cold. I would just watch it and see if it gets worse.

 

Have you cleaned the MAF and throttle body recently?

 

Swith over to a Brand name 100% Fully Synthetic Motor Oil,maybe from a 5W-30 to a 0W-30 for the winter months if under 32F.

 

What oil you run has nothing to do with it since no matter what all the oil is sitting in the pan with a cold start up.

No place in the US gets cold enough for oil to sludge at cold temps, except maybe ontop of Denali in Alaska LOL

Its sunny with a hi of -51F today.

 

The cold has nothing to do with it, it's a fuel or truck issue. You may have some condensation causing a little water in your fuel, but even that is unlikely.

Do you drive far enough to rally warm up the engine regularly? How far is your daily commute? Short trips are hard in engines.

 

Normal, mines always done it here and there since i've owned it.

Did it today after I drove it to work and it sat for two hours. Hasn't done it probably since last winter. Thats a coincidence.

EDIT: For what it's worth plugs, cleaning the MAF, new battery, mobile 1 oil, none of that has changed anything. Trucks always done it. Always warm the truck up for ten minutes or so, 25 miles commute each way to work. Can count on one hand how many times it does it in a year.

I've always chalked it up to something with the pressurized fuel system. Maybe because after 5 hours being off i've heard the pump running on it's own to pressurize the system. I don't worry about it anymore.

 

This.

Most likely fuel pressure is bleeding down more than it should. Probably the check valve in the fuel pump has failed, or an injector is leaking enough to bleed off rest pressure but not enough to cause a drivability problem.

Sitting for short periods of time, probably never notice it. Let it sit for a few hours or more, acts like a long crank/hard start then sputters for the first few seconds when it finally fires up due to the air in the lines.

If you have a fuel pressure test gauge with the right adapters, you can isolate sections of the fuel delivery system to narrow down where the potential problem might be.

 

Thanks All,
My daily commute, while i consider myself lucky, is very short, 4 miles each way so while the truck reaches temperature it doesn't see much road time until the weekend. It's done it very few times so i'd imagine its a result of the changing weather - I just recently moved back from California to Boston so the truck hasn't lived in the cold very much, i keep good care of everything else and it runs like a top otherwise.

I'll keep an eye on it and try to make sure the truck gets up to temperature and driven especially on the colder days. Any additional suggestions?

Thanks again, nice to be back on the forums.

 

If this was the case why would it only do it two maybe three times a year since the truck was brand new? I've also never had it happen consecutively, it's just random then it may happen again 2 months later or maybe 1 year later.

If it was happening on a regular basis I would think there was a problem somewhere.

 

Intermittent problems are just that; intermittent. They're also the hardest to diagnose, unless it's acting up when you're trying to diagnose it.

Check valve in the fuel pump might stick occasionally, not all the time. It does this in my Jeep, maybe a handful of times throughout the year it'll act up on a cold-start. I've already confirmed it's the check valve in the pump in my case, but since the pump performs fine otherwise I'm not inclined to spend the time/money to drop the skid plates and the tank to replace the fuel pump until it fails to perform.

Not saying this is guaranteed to be your issue, just spreading information. Thankfully I haven't had this problem with my Taco yet. Honestly, in your case, unless it becomes a more consistent problem I really wouldn't worry about it.

 

My 14 did the same thing this morning too. I filled the tank at my normal fill up spot, did two short drives then it sat for 2 hrs in the Cape Cod cold. Long crank, had to try it a couple times and it finally started. I drove it about another mile. It sat for 6.5 more hours and started fine. Its a 4.0, 43K, I changed the plugs around 8k back.

 

Must be a massachusetts thing. Three guys all on the same day, id say the blustery cold with the wind might have somethin to do with it.

 

I had an intermittent long crank on a first gen 2.7 4 cylinder, it ended up being the fuel pressure regulator was failing to keep the system presure where it was supposed to be.

 

X2

 

Thanks for the input all,
everything was fine since my last post. Truck did the same thing this morning, although not as bad. Seem to be intermittent and everything is fine otherwise. I'll keep an eye on it and report back with any updates. Sounds like some others have had similar issues!

Thanks again,