Recent Hard Start Unusual
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New User
Joined: Mar 2004
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From: Phoenix, AZ
Recent Hard Start Unusual
My truck sat for 6 days while I was out of town over New Year's. When I tried to start it, the starter turned the engine fine, but the engine didn't start.
I waited a few moments and retried to start the engine. Same circumstances - no start. On the fourth attempt the engine caught and everything seemed to be fine (less the cloud of unburned fuel surrounding the truck). This is my first diesel. I waited for the glow plug indicator to go out, didn't touch the accelerator, and only cranked for about a 45 seconds on each attempt. Should I have done anything differently?
Thanks for all the good advise in past posts.
DanAZ350 03 6.0 CC 4X4 LB
I waited a few moments and retried to start the engine. Same circumstances - no start. On the fourth attempt the engine caught and everything seemed to be fine (less the cloud of unburned fuel surrounding the truck). This is my first diesel. I waited for the glow plug indicator to go out, didn't touch the accelerator, and only cranked for about a 45 seconds on each attempt. Should I have done anything differently?
Thanks for all the good advise in past posts.
DanAZ350 03 6.0 CC 4X4 LB
Super Moderator
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 21,113
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From: Ohio
Sounds like a few things are out of order. On the information side, you have been having no hard start problems. At what temperature did the truck not start? A cloud of white smoke is an indication you had fuel and glow plugs not working. Two plugs not working could make a hard start.
I would make a trip your dealer. A visiual inspection, fuel pressure check, a test on the injectors and glow plugs should be done by your tech.
I would make a trip your dealer. A visiual inspection, fuel pressure check, a test on the injectors and glow plugs should be done by your tech.
Cargo Master
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 2,203
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From: Carlsbad, California
Originally Posted by DanAZ350
My truck sat for 6 days while I was out of town over New Year's. When I tried to start it, the starter turned the engine fine, but the engine didn't start.
I waited a few moments and retried to start the engine. Same circumstances - no start. On the fourth attempt the engine caught and everything seemed to be fine (less the cloud of unburned fuel surrounding the truck). This is my first diesel. I waited for the glow plug indicator to go out, didn't touch the accelerator, and only cranked for about a 45 seconds on each attempt. Should I have done anything differently?
Thanks for all the good advise in past posts.
DanAZ350 03 6.0 CC 4X4 LB
I waited a few moments and retried to start the engine. Same circumstances - no start. On the fourth attempt the engine caught and everything seemed to be fine (less the cloud of unburned fuel surrounding the truck). This is my first diesel. I waited for the glow plug indicator to go out, didn't touch the accelerator, and only cranked for about a 45 seconds on each attempt. Should I have done anything differently?
Thanks for all the good advise in past posts.
DanAZ350 03 6.0 CC 4X4 LB
Welcome to the 6.0 L forum and FTE. Please take a moment to check out the Welcome sticky at the top of the forum page. It has a number of links to great threads and other info.
Regarding the hard to start thing. It's been seen occasionally by others. In fact that same thing did happen to me about a week ago for the 2nd time since I've owned the truck. It's been starting fine since.
Normally my truck will fire within a second or two of cranking but this time it didn't. After it cranked for about 8 to 10 seconds I stopped and waited a bit and then cranked again. After it didn't fire after cranking for a while I turned off the truck and waited a bit and then turned it back on and waited for the glow plugs to cycle again and then hit the key. Vroom, fired immediately.
Sometimes I think that the computer just gets confused. One of our other uses posted that turning the key off and then repeating the start sequence is kind of like a ctrl+alt+del reboot and seems to clear the problem.
New User
Joined: Aug 2004
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For what it's worth.....whenever my truck has sat for a few days or if the weather is cold (below 50 degrees F.) I wait until the glow plug lamp goes out, then turn the key off for 10 seconds, then repeat. I've gotten consistent starts using this technique, and never have the starter engaged more than 3-5 seconds before the engine lights off.
