When i try to start my truck, alot of times when its cold early in the morning, it will start right up, no problems. When it is hot, or if its even kind of warm, lately it wont start unless i put the pedal to the WOT position. From what i have read, the WOT position kills the injector fire until you let off the pedal. If i do that, it will start just fine. Occasionally, once i do get it started, it will idle real weird, like i have a big cam in the truck, and if i give it any gas it will almost die. After about 10-15 seconds, it runs fine. Any ideas what could be happening? I still drive the truck and it runs fine besides getting about 10mpg, i think it used to get about 13-14 when i first started driving the truck, i have done all tuneup items on it, and it seemed to run alot better once i replaced the o2 sensor, overall the truck runs just fine. Anybody have any ideas why its hard to start?

 

im not sure what engine you have in the pickup.. but one possibility is a leaking injector or 2.. that could explain the hard start after it has been driven.. and the loss of fuel mileage..

more info about the engine and year would be a great help...

 

if it is a 6.0L it could be the FICM.

 

my bad! if forgot that part.

the truck is a 1986 302 efi auto 4x4 xlt

 

It could be your pick up at the distributor or the dura spark box

 

im still leaning towards an injector leaking...it sounds like it is flooding..but it is possible that more than one injector is causing this.. there are other possibilities.. but i think you are looking at a fuel problem more than an electrical one...

 

same promblems and engine cept an 85
i replaced idle air control valve
cleaned and lubed throttle body
no change...
also if i try to start it and fail .... i turn the key completely off.
it fires right up !
on the second try!
wtf?

 

I have some new developments on the truck. I went to the auto parts store, got a bottle of injector cleaner for each gas tank and poured it in. After that, i got a gauge to see what kind of fuel pressure the truck was putting out. I suspected a injector leaking, but after about 10-15 min, the truck still had the same fuel pressure as what it had when i just shut it off, so that ruled out the leaky/stuck injector. Then i started the engine and checked the pressure, it goes up with rpms, and back down at idle, it stays between 30-40 all the time, so i think that's good where its supposed to be. Next i took a can of seafoam and ran it into the vacuum line for the brake booster, and let it idle for a while. I immediately noticed a difference in the engine! It was much more responsive, felt like it had alot more power, and just overall runs better. I killed the engine and started it up with different times inbetween, (30 sec, 1 min, 5 min, and 10 min) and each time, it started up on the first try, i didnt have to hold down the gas pedal like i used to for it to start. we will see how it does tomorrow and throughout the week. I think my other problem is that the thermostat is stuck open, the engine never gets very hot, so i believe its dumping extra fuel in since the engine hardly ever gets above 150ish at most. I'll report back once i change out the thermostat this weekend.

 

ok
ill try it1

 

good to hear that you are not going to have to chase down a bad injector.. one other thing that just popped into my head would be the i.a.c.(idle air controller).. could be sticking shut when the engine is warm.. only thing i have ever ran into to see that happen was chevy.. never had an i.a.c. problem on a ford yet..

 

it idles high still, and it didnt fix the starting problem, but overall the truck does run better. I am still trying to figure out what the problem is to why it wont start easily. today im back to having to hit the gas to the floor to get it to start. Any ideas? It does idle high, about 1100 rpms in neutral/park and about 1000 in drive. Any helping ideas?

 

im honestly running out of ideas.. it wouldnt be a tps problem.. at least i wouldnt think it would be.. this is mind boggling.. if i remember correctly you can adjust your idle up at the throttle body with an allen wrench.. you may try to reset your idle and see what happens.. at worst you would only have to turn it back up.. at best it would help.. might give it a try...

it would be nice if someone else had ran across this problem and found the cure.. ill try and check with my "go to guy" tomorrow.. he has been great with helping me with problems i havnt found an answer to.. he dose alot more auto work than i do..

 

could be a vacuum leak

 

when mine was idling high...
i checked and the butterflies werent closing on the intake
so i lubed them and bent the heavy gage wire that goes from them to the throttle cable mount you will have to remove it
see my previous post asking what is this?

 

could be the setting on your kick down cable for the transmission that connects to the throttle body. Try unhooking it and see if that works.or try a different throttle body