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Help with the k3500!

Avery4jc

Avery4jc

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A couple of months ago I started having a problem hot starting the k3500... when it's cold outside or it hasn't run at all that day it fires up in a split second with no issues but like I said above once it's warmed up it's hard to get it to start again...

Then today I go to fire it up after it's been sitting for two days (I've been riding around for thanksgiving stuff in my mom's car) and I can't get it to stay running. It fires and bring up the rpm's and after 1-2 seconds it completely dies. I tried giving it a little throttle and it just boggs down but dies after 1-2 seconds as before.
I know it's getting fuel and fire because I did this 20-25 times while we were trying to diagnose what was going on and it fired up every time but again, it died after 1-2 seconds...

We really had to get going to we just used my dad's truck but I figured since it seems like it's getting fuel/fire it might be something in the computer so before we left I disconnected the battery.

Later on we get home and I connect the battery and you guessed it... it fired right up and idled perfectly!

So tonight we were going over to some friend's house across town (about 15 miles) so we took my truck. It ran fine but it still had the hot start problem I started having a few months ago. :crazy:

I'm puzzled about this one. Any ideas? I checked every connector I could get my hands on and they're all securely seated so I'm not sure.
 
The hot start issue sounds like every other hot-start problem I've had on Chevys: heat soak at the starter. Let it cool down, starts right up. So, maybe move the source of heat, or wrap the starter, or get a new, quality unit. *shrug*

as for the rest, it's 2am and I'm too tired to think.
 
dont know if its related to ur problem. my friends 1996 pick up with vortec 350, had a starting problem a few weeks ago at 11 am, motor was cool, but act like its hot. turns out to be cooling sensor? he unplugged it and it starts up fine, drives around fine now. i think the coolant sensor went bad and it plays fail-safe. hes been driving it unplugged for a while now, temp gauge doesnt work now, and one other thing i think. just something to check out. he thought it was a fuel problem at first. but i ruled that out after i towed him home. :rolleyes:
 
Could be a VATS thing. My buddy had the same thing and it was a broken piece in the ignition.
 
Check for any codes, then check fuel pressure for the can't keep it running part. The hard start when hot seems like heat soak to me as well although a bad fuel pump could definately cause you these issues as well.
 
George_Pimpdaddy said:
wonder if its cutting the fuel to avoid damage like the oil pressure isnt high enough?
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Oil pressure is 70-80 lbs when I first fire it up and drops down to 35 or so once it's warmed up at idle so I think it has plenty of pressure.

4X4HIGH said:
Check for any codes, then check fuel pressure for the can't keep it running part. The hard start when hot seems like heat soak to me as well although a bad fuel pump could definately cause you these issues as well.
Click to expand...

Slapperbar said:
My initial thought is fuel pump.
Click to expand...

I'm thinking it has to be something electronic because it runs perfectly fine now that I disconnected the battery (which I'm assuming cleared everything out)...

I still have the hot start issue but it runs fine once it's started now.



So you guys think the hot start issue is related to the starter and not the engine itself? It doesn't sound like it's spinning any slower or having a problem engaging/disengaging when it's hot...
I'm not sure if it has the capability to do this but it seems like the computer takes over with the hot start issue because it'll fire one cylinder then sort of miss a couple then fire another back and forth back and forth (but of course so fast it's only a second or two) and then gets itself going...

Although while we're on the subject of fuel pumps... is there a pump I could put in that doesn't sound like a swarm of angry bee's? I know all the OBS chevys sound like that but still... it's rather annoying. :)
 
I read the thread (I forgot I posted in there :) ) and that sounds like a good idea...

The truck has a fairly new engine but I imagine that's just hard parts so when they swapped it in they just re-used all the plugs/wires/distributor/etc.
 
Something just came to mind, if this is the engine thsat uses the plastic distributor they are known for problems and require a new distributor be installed. Basically what happens is the housing wears so bad that the shaft starts moving around and screws up the air gap for the electric stuff inside. Also check the distributor cap because those are fail prone with the plastic distributor for the same reason.
 
4X4HIGH said:
Something just came to mind, if this is the engine thsat uses the plastic distributor they are known for problems and require a new distributor be installed. Basically what happens is the housing wears so bad that the shaft starts moving around and screws up the air gap for the electric stuff inside. Also check the distributor cap because those are fail prone with the plastic distributor for the same reason.
Click to expand...

Ok I'll check it out. Maybe this will help with power a little too. I've been happy with the truck but always felt like it didn't pull as hard as the numbers on paper say it should.
 
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