Having Tough starts

Hi. My 2005 has had a few tough starts in the last couple months. It turns over, but doesn’t start, and after three tries, it does,, but can run rough for about 30 seconds.: fuel filter?? My truck has 185,400 miles on it: great truck, this fall will be 14 years with it.
Thanks

 

Spark plugs being changed as they should?
How old is the battery?
Is the battery tightly connected?

 

Without knowing what maintenance and when pretty tough to answer your question. Ever cleaned the maf?

 

Does it do it every time, or just when cold? Could be a fuel pump check valve that has failed or a weak fuel pump. Monitoring your fuel trims would give you some insight to whether or not you have a fuel delivery issue.
Could be a dirty throttle body or dirty MAF sensor as well.
Check engine lamp ON? Scanned for codes?

 

When it’s cold. Spark plugs were changed around 100,000. I haven’t had to do much with this truck except a clutch.

 

My 05 did this for a while and would run rough right after
I cleaned the MAF sensor and cleared it up
There's a thread here somewhere on clean it

 

Change those spark plugs and clean your maf/throttle body

 

Since only when it's cold, after other things have been eliminated, you need to look at what the ECT sensor is reporting when the engine is COLD.

 

Thanks for the info!

 

Well there you go!! You answered your own question.

 

I believe they quit the fuel filters starting in 2005, then they went internal "fuel sock".

 

Engines need 3 things to work. Air, fuel, spark.
Air: check filters so there is no restrictions. clean/replace MAF sensor.
Fuel: check filters, pump pressure, injector nozzles for cleanliness
Spark: new plugs gaped to proper specs. coil wires, connection from coil to spark plug, no water in wires.

If these are all good then it could be an issue with a sensor to the ECU like oxygen, knock, temperature, etc.

Good luck.

 

Eh... compression. That's a thing engines need too.
Oh, and timing. That's also an important thing.
And some other sensor readings that impact the timing of all the stuff... that too.
Battery.

 

You up north by any chance?
Mine does this somewhat in the winter. It may take 2-3 tries for it to start. Only in the winter though.
I heard there was a TSB for this,and sadly I only heard about it after my 3 year 36000 mile quote-unquote bumper to bumper expired.