hard start

[Tom Welsch]

Hey fellas i have a 2002 2500 6 speed with 230,000 km (that about 140,000 miles for you guys south of the border) Past little bit i have been getting an extended crank, tries to start, cranks a bit more then fires up. This only happens in the morning when it has been sitting all night. Was running a bit rough one day but a can of seafoam cleared that up. the main fuel filter and an inline filter have very few km on them.
Today it did the hard start and gave a good cloud of white when she fired. I have a check valve on the fuel line which is quite new and the vp return valve is quite new.

 

[Wiredawg]

ypu may have an injection pump starting to go out. Was around 2005 when my 02 was going out just 35,800 miles into the 36K mi warranty.

Good luck

Ron

 

[BoeingDiesel]

Yep, I agree with Wiredawg, but it may be an issue of over fueling a cylinder re; bad injector or you may have coolant contamination.
Next time you fire it up get a whiff of the smoke...sweet smelling is coolant...diesel smell is un-burnt fuel.
Do you have a fuel pressure gauge and where in the system is the check valve...feed line to the VP? While you're in the diagnostics phase start the engine and pull the 710 cap and check for blow by.

 

[JR]

Where (and what type) of check valve did you install? I'm assuming you were having hard start issue to install one. Is it rated for fuel? Factory lift pump? Fuel pressure while cranking?

 

[KATOOM]

Hard starting in the morning or after its been sitting for periods of time are an indication of a fuel leak. The extended cranking is because the fuel lines are drained of fuel and the fuel pump must reprime before it will start. The larger the leak the lesser amount of time it needs to sit to hard start.

The most common places for leaks are 1) any fitting you've recently touched, messed with, or worked on, 2) the single banjo bolt on the back of the head, 3) the tee fitting just before that single banjo bolt. Banjo bolts only torque to 18 ft lbs so dont go wild on them. Sometimes replacing the seal washers is needed to fix the leak.

A way to test if a fuel leak is the problem is to park with the nose of the truck facing downhill. This raises the level of the fuel tank in relation to the engine and helps prevent fuel from draining back to the fuel tank. If it starts normal after parking like that then its definitely a fuel leak.