This truck is still new to me but it is identical to the one that I traded off. This new truck, whenever I turn the key on first thing in the morning, the lift pump will run for 30-35 seconds before shutting off. If I wait for the lift pump to stop running and then try to start, it will spin the engine over 7-10 revolutions before firing off and running. The weird thing about this to me is that if I don't wait for the lift pump to quit running and try to start it, it spins the engine over just as long. The truck that I traded off ALWAYS started on the first revolution of the engine. The lift pump on my last truck never ran for more than 5 seconds either.
One other thing that I have noticed about this new truck is that I occasionally smell raw diesel from the engine compartment. I have lifted the hood and looked and I really don't see anything wet with diesel. There are also no puddles of diesel under the truck after it sits in a driveway.
The truck seems to run fine once it is started; my only issue is the long cranking times, lift pump running excessively and the occasional smell of raw diesel from under the hood.
After searching through the posts in this forum, I have come to the conclusion that this year of truck has a problem with both the lift pump and the injectors. I am about to run out of my "powertrain" warranty and was getting ready to take my truck into the dealership to complain about this situation and just wanted to arm myself with the most information and or history with trucks of this year from the most knowledgable people on this planet about the problems with this year of truck.....the actual owners!!!
I have gleaned extremely good and accurate information from all of you guys over the last couple of years of browsing this forum and I am hoping that someone out there has possibly experienced this same type of situation and had it resolved and can pass that knowledge on to me. Oh, one other thing, this truck has just hit 70,000 miles and has never had any mods done that I am aware of.
Thanks for any info in advance!!

 

I know that there is a hard start flash from the dealer, it is a TSP, but I do not know what years it effected.

 

i had same problem mine were the injectors but mine would crank for alot longer sometime 15 secs before it would start. and when it was cold i would sometimes have to crank if for 15secs stop and then crank it agian. when i had my injectors flow test they were bypassing about 60% on each injector except the new one and it was bypassing 3%.

danny

 

I appreciate the responses and information!! Does anybody remember smelling raw diesel from the engine compartment??

 

yeah i did when i blew an injector not when there just bypassing check your oil and see if there is any diesel in the oil. mine was so bad that was blowing fuel out of my blowby tube. i took the valve cover off and started it and the bad #1 injector blew fuel all the way to the hood that is was the first fight with my injectors the second was the hard start issue. then i had another injector go out a couple months ago which makes round 3 of the fight with injectors so i carry a spare with me lol

danny

danny

 

Here's a couple of things to look for...

First, make sure that your fuel filter lid is tight and the water drain is shut all the way.

Second, pull your oil dip stick. If there is a heavy diesel smell, the oil is thin, and the oil level is high, you have a leaky injector(s). Look under the truck toward the rear of the engine and on the tranny, see if there is fuel/oil from overfilling caused by the fuel leaking into the crank case.

Next, look at your fuel lines coming from the tank to the FF canister, then from the FF canister to the CP3. Look for wet spots, sometimes, lines crack, and air will seep in and cause hard starting. I have not heard about this with a third gen yet, tho.

Hopefully, it's problem one or three, not two.


HTH...

 

Thanks for the responses, both Dwitt0187 and Madhat!! Am I right when I had stated that the lift pump and injectors are both a problem with this year of truck.......especially with this kind of miles??

 

Forgot to mention this the last post but madhat; I have checked my engine oil and the level is fine, seems fairly clean and I do not believe that diesel is getting into the lower end of the motor. Is this a definate symptom of having one or more bad injectors???

 

I do not know if the early 03's had the LP problem. The ones that went bad were the fuel canister mounted lift pumps.

Fuel in oil is a sign of a bad injector that has took a nose dive. It's still possible that you have a bad injector, even with no fuel in oil.

Do you have a FP gauge? What's your numbers look like if you do? Have you checked the truck for codes?

Don't rule out something easy like the TSB I mentioned earlier.

 

madhat...my truck is actually a late model 03 with the HO engine. I am not overlooking the TSB for the hard start problem. I would just think that since I had never seen it before with my old truck (which mechanically was identical) it would be an issue with something mechanical which was failing. After searching forums on here, it seems to me that many people have had this problem and the dealership has wanted to just replace the lift pump and not the injectors and it generally has not corrected the problem until they have actually replaced the injectors as well????? Is this acurate info!!

 

ive got 2 03 trucks built 30 days apart. one truck fires right up and the other cranks way longer than what i like. no codes and it has been reflashed, the oil is really clean and on the full line after 2000 miles. i changed rail pressure sensors and nothing different. the trucks sound different when runnning one has a rattle to it and the throttle is touchy the other is kind of quiet. the bad part of the deal is the one that starts good is the wifes.

 

The 03's are famous at my shop. LOL. We rebuild those more than any other year. Some of the earlier 03's have a seal in the injector that is almost always the culprit.

If you have a warranty left, get it the dealer and have them test the injector leakage. They will replace any leakers for you at no charge.

If it is cold where yo live, this may just be a cold weather issue that will resolve itself in the coming months when things warm up.