97 Yukon Hard to start

[vali31]

Hello everyone!

I have a 97 Yukon that just started to have a hard time starting. It takes about 3-4 cranking for it to start. The fuel pump was replaced almost 2 years ago. Last time i had a tune up was about 5-6 years ago. Battery is 2 months old. Vehicle has a little under 200,000 miles. If it is a tuneup that I need. Is there any instructions on how to do it myself?
Please help anyone this is my families only means of transportation.

I just took pictures of my cars engine if need:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=9A8F3R60

[SunlitComet]

At 100,000 is a scheduled tune-up so since you are having issues do it now. Get your selfa haynes or chilton manual for instructruction on how to change components. refer to your owners manual on what is required for the 100,000 interval. Perhaps have your fuel injectors professionally cleaned as well. The originals are problematic.
:welcome: from the bay area as well.

[vali31]

TY for the reply sunlitcomet. My uncle from San Jose told me that my fuel injectors maybe dirty. All of today the car started out fine. The night before I just cleaned and removed components. I don't think I did anything special, hopefully the cleaner I put in helped a little. A tune up cost me about 450.00 last time. Would buying the parts at a local store or online be best? Can someone with little experience with cars(like myself) be able to do this with a manual?

:Handshake:
I am on the other side of the mountain in Concord, near Clayton Valley HS.

[SunlitComet]

It is not that diffeicult as long as you have decent quality tools and patience. Parts online would bea good choice. I Myself go to store websites that sell the acdelco brands(oreily's for example) and pull off the oem part # and buy it from amazon mostly where things are cheaper and have great costumer service. There are a few web places like that. The stores overcharge for this stuff and are kicking the good quality products from there shelves in favor of cheaper stuff. I pulled $175 worth of local store tune-up parts for $101 just this month and they were ac delco brand. I fyou need factory technical info I could help with that. Just don't bite off to much at once until you are comfortable. Work on one thing at a time and don't move on until done with the first. I am sure you can get a lot more done with $450 on your own and better yourself at the same time.

If your fuel injectors need to be replaced later on get some help with that. You have to take off the UPPER half of the intake manifold to get to it and requires patience and a clean working enviorment to do it accurately or bigger problems will occur later. There have been some changes to the system because of a performance issues.

By the way have you noticed any instances of your Check Engine Light on steadily are flashing after vehicle starts or just when you initially start it then it goes out?

[vali31]

No check engine light. The car has been running fine as of the last 2.5 days. The car starts normally. Maybe its my wife, just being careless while driving and turning the car on. But, i know that it is due for a tune up. Thanks so much for helping.

[GMC Yukon]

You can dooooooo it.... New plugs- New Cap - New Rotor - PVC - Air filter... When you replace the cap pull 1 wire at a time and put it on the new cap the same way.... Did they replace your plug wires??? If not replace them first befor replacing the cap...

[SunlitComet]

No need to do one wire plug at a time. When you want I will give you a pictorial wire routing map.

[vali31]

Oh snaps! Now I'm really on my knees praying for guidance. It looks easy(Looks), but very skeptic I might over tighten or forget what wire goes where. I think I am going to need that "pictorial wire routing map".

[SunlitComet]

thread the by hand then snug the plugs real good with ratchet. Light screwdriver force on cap and rotor. Wiggle a little bit at a time to ensure fit. USE dielectric grease on inside of wire boots. Cap is numbered on top anyway. Hardest plugs may be 5&7 since the steering shaft is nearby. Cylinder layout as follows:

Fan
1 2
3 4
5 6
7 8
Distributor

Routing diagram:

http://www.sunlitcomet.com/pdf/automotive/tahoe/96-97/1996-Tahoe-Ignition-Wire-Routing.pdf

[vali31]

Can you give me hand on this? Do you do side jobs? How much will you charge? It looks like i can do it, I don't have the right tools and I never done anything like this. I repair computers, and now I am wishing I repaired cars instead.

[SunlitComet]

I usually work on airplanes but do computers and cars too. Unfortunately I am tied up on my own tahoe right now among other things. I myself am dumping over five grand into it with several more to go. What exactly are you concerned about? I might be able to help but it depends on where you live and time of day as I have to use another vehicle. Best way for you to learn is to do it while I lend a hand along the way. I think you will do fine as long as the truck springs no suprises on you. I should have all the tools to use and I can bring my laptop scanner if needed just for the extra bit of info it might provide. Have you decided on what you want to do specifically. Online I think you can get cap, rotor, wires(if needed), plugs, pcv valve, air and fuel filter for $200 maybe. The ignition stuff would be ac delco and I usually reccomend Fram for stock air filters, fuel filter, an pcv valves. I don't usually do side jobs but I will lend a hand for sure. I am not good at charging money. If I was I would probably be rich with all the stuff I have done for others. Hell I would like to have several shops in different transportation fields if I had the business running bug in me but I always liked the technical stuff more.

Btw, liking the throttle body. I have my upper manifold off right now doing the injector assy and it took 2 large can of cleaner, tooth brush and plastic scraper to clean that damn throttle body. The upper manifold body was:emotions122::emotions122::emotions122: but did as best I could. My truck better be able to fly with all the work I'm doing but have not had the time speed up the process.

[vali31]

I know you are busy with your own vehicle and I feel selfish because I am asking for help and you have already gave me great advice. I understand exactly where you are coming from when you talked about helping others and charging. When I do computer or screen repairs I have the hardest time charging someone, only because they usually got jacked with a bill from people like geek squad or a local computer repair shop. I get a weird satisfaction for helping another person in need. My friend Mario lived in Pitt, he use to help me with some of my car repairs, he had the hardest time charging me also but he has since moved to socal. Since I know the Yukon is due for a tune up i am assuming that I need all the above. Been digging around and I have found a lot of Spark plug wires on sale but some were not AC DELCO. I found AC DELCO plug wires but I don't know which one. Here is a link to one website.

http://www.summitracing.com/search/Brand/ACDelco/Part-Type/Spark-Plug-Wire-Sets/Product-Line/ACDelco-Spark-Plug-Wire-Sets/?autoview=SKU&gclid=CJazpqaXg6cCFQRubAodvDdlgQ

[SunlitComet]

post all the build details on your vehicle and when ZI have some time tonight I will look up the parts for you and price them at amazon or something. List everything again for proper application. everything you know, year, make, model, trim level, installed options, a/c tranny 4*2 4*4, # of doors and such.

[vali31]

1997 GMC Yukon
5.7L
V8-350
Fuel Injected
4 Door

[SunlitComet]

cap ACDelco D329a $42.-
rotor ACDelco D465 $11.-
wires ACDelco 9718q $57.-
Plugs ACDelco 41-993 $8.29*8=$63.-
Air filter Fram CA8038 $17.-
Fuel filter Fram G3727 $12.-
PCV Valve Fram FV178 $6.-

All on Amazon but occasionally might be sold and shipped from a different merchant so Look below each price on the product page to be sure. They may charge more for the part or shipping or take longer to ship.

About $208 anything else you are interested in doing? Buy all means shop around for better pricing but amazon seem to be the ideal place with good service.

---------- Post added at 10:10 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:06 PM ----------

Summit ac delco wires were twice that of Amazon price.:rape:

[vali31]

Thank You Jonathan.:worthy:

Sorry for replying so late. I have been out of town dealing with some personal issues. I just got back this morning and found out someone broke into my Yukon because the handle was broken. Fortunately there is nothing worth taking. The prices that you looked up for me are much appreciated. I will call around for price checks, but I'll use your quotes as what to look for. I get paid only on the 10th of every month. So after bills paid, I'll calculate how much I can save towards purchasing the parts. I really appreciate your help.

[TigerEyz3]

I personally advise against using FRAM products as there are many less than stellar performance stories surrounding their products. There are many better quality brands that you can use instead:

fuel filters - ACDelco, Mobil1, and Purolator are all better products
air filters - Wix and Purolator immediately come to mind for the paper filters
pcv filter - can't recall any brand specific issues surrounding this part

[vali31]

I took my 97 yukon to Meineke in Concord, CA and got the worst service. Went in for a oil change 3 weeks ago and was told I needed this done and this and so forth. I already new I needed a tuneup so i went back for the service. For 380.00 and some change <---STUPID, I got a new fuel filter, 3 step cleaning of fuel injectors, and spark plugs replaced. I was told that the plug wires were still good. A day and a half later my car rough idles when at a stop light. Took it to another shop and they said that one of my spark plugs were cracked. I remember seeing the mechanic dropping 2 spark plugs but i didn't think anything of it. The shop that found the crack also said that the wires could have been (arcing/arking)? I went back to meineke and had them replace all 8 of the spark plugs and the car is still idling rough/misfiring at stop lights. I need help. My yukon never did this before until I had the shitty tuneup done. Could it possibly be my wires were damaged or just should of been replaced at the same time?

[SunlitComet]

Sorry to hear that. I can't get to you still but if you want to swing by here some time I can scan your computer data to see if I could find a clue as to what is going on. I still don't have a pressure gauge to verify your fuelk pressure but I can pull alot of data for you if you want and verify your wire routing. If you are misfiring I can tell what cylinder it is for example. You could use a loan a tool program around here to get a fual pressure gauge while you are here. I think you leave a refundable deposit at the local parts store to ensure its return. BTW do you know what gap your plugs were set at?

[vali31]

When the second shop checked the spark plugs, they found one of them at gapped around 80 the rest were at 60/62. Yesterday I tried to get a scanner loaner with my card and they said they don't loan them anymore. I have to purchase one or go to a shop to have it scanned.

[SunlitComet]

Some weird state law thing that I still can't find anything about. I have a scanning system just not a fuel pressure tester.

[vali31]

THX for the help earlier today, really appreciate it. Hopefully it goes past 2 days without a problem.

[SunlitComet]

:Handshake:

[ChiTahoe]

Just an FYI for us OBS owners. There have been multiple updates to the crank sensor from GM. See you local dealer for the latest one, it may cure hard starts and long cranks, sure did on my dads truck.