truck hesitates to start

[papaman]

howdy!

so a new issue has recently come to light as the weather has gotten colder here in ga....

my truck hesitates to start when the engine is cold. it'll turn over once, pause, then crank once or twice slowly until it fires up. of course while it pauses, all the lights get really dim. this doesn't happen if i start the engine when it's still warm.

sometimes after this happens my auto tilting mirrors will stay in a tilted state, and my driver's side running board will extend and retract on its own with the doors closed and in gear.

i went and had my battery tested, and it came back fine. since i bought her a few months ago, i only use quick trip mid grade fuel. any other ideas? maybe need to clean the maf, or replace plugs? possible fuel sending issue?

thanks in advance!

 

[Floep]

Check out your starter, if O.K, question, are you loosing any fluids? oil or antifreeze? sounds like hydraulic locking, cylinder with some UN compressible fluid in it, from standing when cold. Once rid of the liquid it will turnover just fine till it is left to cool long enough to let some fluid leaking in----Floep---

 

[papaman]

fluid levels all look good. haven't checked the starter yet. for giggles and grins i took the maf out and it looks real clean.

i took one of the spark plugs out for my own curiosity and found the following:

same plug from two angles. i've only got about 46.7k on the odo... does this plug look ok? there's a bit more build up than i'm used to seeing on previous cars...

 

[domin8]

Are you sure the battery tested correctly? Most auto parts store people are complete idiots when it comes to checking the battery. I only say this because I'll have customers price a battery or alternator after being to a competitor and being told that it was something that it wasn't.

 

[papaman]

i am not averse to a second opinion on getting the battery checked somewhere else.

i'll probably go ahead change out the plugs just to be sure and run some injector cleaner through the tank.

thanks!

 

[papaman]

quick update, and more confusion. ...at least on my part.

i was going to take my family out to eat tonight, so we jumped in the tahoe. i put the key in, started to turn it, and all the accessory lights, headlights, radio, etc all came on no problem. i turned the key one more position to start the engine - and nothing. all the electrical stuff turned off, and the engine didn't even crank once. when the key returned to the on position, all the electrical came right back on with no issue and no dimness.

this led me to believe that it's my starter. wasn't anything i can really do about it tonight, so we took my wife's car to go out. when we got back i decided to try one more test. first i tried to start the engine and received the same results as listed above. then i hooked up my craftsman mobile jump starter/trickle charger to the battery, set the jump starter to the 200 amp jump start setting, and the truck fired right up.

so now i'm a little stumped.... this would point to a battery issue, right? could it still be the starter?

any and all feedback is appreciated!

thanks!

 

[Gzes]

My guess is that ur battery is bad. If you jumped easy then yea its your battery

 

[domin8]

IMO, battery. It sounds like your battery is no longer able to give you the cold crank amperage needed to turn over your engine.

Get her running and go to a good auto parts store and have them test it (preferably one with its ASE certification, which most Auto Zone, Napa, Advance, etc don't have). Take your jump box with you. Do not turn off the truck engine. When they test it with the engine running and put a load on the battery it'll determine if the alternator is failing and the battery was not being recharged. If the alternator checks out turn off the engine and have them put a load on the battery. If the battery drops below 12 volts you need a new one. If both check out blame the starter.

In case it's the battery, the proper size is L3/48 with 15mm ledge for proper fitment. That's not a common battery to find in an auto parts store and may have to be purchased from the dealer or special ordered. Case in point, I'm in SE VA. The only places I can order one are from my warehouse in DC or from the Exide factory in Richmond.

 

[papaman]

first off, thanks to all who gave me some ideas and feedback!

this morning i pulled out my starter and my battery, and drove them over to my local autozone. we put the starter on the test bench and it passed with flying colors. the battery was another story. that sucker had a bad cell or something. either way, it did not have the ~600 cold cranking amps available.

so i bought a new battery (which they only had one left in stock), got it home, installed the starter and battery, and the truck fired up with no issue at all. the new battery is a duralast gold, part number h6-dlg. warranty on it is 3 years full value refund, then prorated for 5 years.

anywho, thought i'd throw out an update in case someone searches on this issue in the future, and to also say thanks for all the help!

 

[domin8]

No problem. Glad you were able to get it sorted out.

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[ScottyBoy]

I would double check all the battery cables and connections as well. See if any are loose, or rusted or corroded in any way. I had a vehicle with all the same symptoms as you. I even bought a new battery, but the problem returned 2 days later. It turned out to be a corroded battery cable. Swapped stout and it fired up faster than it ever did before.