Long start

[Rusty Sites]

2003 5.9 has trouble on first start up no matter what temp. Starts better after that no smoke no blow by. Pulls and runs great idles good. Any help

 

[Killer223]

grid heater working? the wait to start light...
how about some gauges?
we need more info on the truck, miles? miles on injectors?
good batteries?
NEED INPUT!!!

 

[Slow Six]

When I had this problem on my 03 it was injectors and like yours once I got it started it ran good. There used to be a lot of info on this site about this. In simple terms if an injector or injectors are leaking the rail does not build enough pressure to allow the injectors to fire. This may not be your problem but it is very common with the 03. Also a weak battery may cause slow cranking which can result in slow starting.

 

[p-Bar]

Reason why it starts fine is the tolerances tighten up when the injectors get hot . How many miles? Beware of what you buy in the way of injectors they all are not created equal

 

[Rusty Sites]

grid heater working? the wait to start light...
how about some gauges?
we need more info on the truck, miles? miles on injectors?
good batteries?
NEED INPUT!!!

2003 bought used 7 yearss ago had 98000 now has a little over 300000.grid heater relay is bad but I'm in temp over 60 +. New battery on both sides. Problem started last year but has gotten worse. Plugging the block heater in has helped some. Gauges ND lights all working.

 

[sag2]

More than likely ready for injectors, but first retorque the connector tubes.

 

[Crunch]

2003 5.9 has trouble on first start up no matter what temp. Starts better after that no smoke no blow by. Pulls and runs great idles good. Any help

Never underestimate the battery or battery cables as a possible cause. Earlier this year my truck was doing the same thing. Very long crank times in the morning, fine the rest of the day. It got to the point where occasionally I would have to stop cranking, wait a couple of seconds and try again. When I got to looking closer for the problem I noticed that a) the negative cable on the driver side battery was coming loose in the terminal, and b) it was corroded. When I reset and tightened the cable it fired up a lot quicker. Once I saw the problem I ordered a 2/0 gauge black cable from McMaster-Carr, along with two of their military spec negative terminals and two 3/8" heavy duty lugs. I was only going to replace the driver side negative cable, but when I got under the truck I noticed that the lug connecting to the engine block was a 1/2" heavy duty lug, so I bought two of those from an electrical supply place and replaced the negative cables on both batteries. Immediately fixed the problem, the truck starts right up and the total cost was about $80. I'm not saying that it isn't your injectors. But the battery cables on the '03 trucks are notorious for corroding under the insulation where you can't see it, especially the crossover cable (which is my next cable project). And if your batteries are more than 5 years old I would also suspect that they could be the problem. I would at least give all of your cables and cable connections a good inspection, and also test your batteries, even though the basic tests don't always find problem batteries before spending the bucks to replace your injectors. Given the age of your truck, if you have the original, OEM cables they are almost certainly getting long in the tooth, and should be replaced in the near future anyway. FYI, a complete set of OEM cables from the dealer will cost you close to $400, and the cables you get from an auto parts store will probably be a thinner gauge than what you already have. If you replace cables I would seriously consider getting them from an industrial quality vendor.

 

[rashwor]

What Crunch said... if you replace cables, don't skimp on them. At a minimum, use at least factory spec / size. You can buy as good or better wire and have them made up much cheaper if money matters.

This being said, with that mileage, it certainly could be injectors. I just got through replacing mine at 354,000 miles. This cured the smoke that I had on hard acceleration under load as well. I did not have a long start on my wore out injectors. It starts the same with the new injectors as it did with the old ones. My signs of needing injectors were blue smoke on first morning start up (you could smell raw diesel in the exhaust with it running) and a rougher than usual idle when sitting still. I could feel the vibration in my seat and my shift lever shook more than usual (yeah, I spend a lot of time in the truck). We did the fuel shutdown test on individual injectors and you really could not tell any difference regardless of the injector that was shut down... hence 6 new bosch fire sticks and she runs like new (5,000 miles and counting).