Hard Starting 97 D90

Surveyor

Well-known member
My wife's 1997 D 90 has had a hard starting problem for the past 4 years. 2,3 and 4 years ago the issue miraculously cured itself after a short time. She didn't have the problem for about 18 months. However, since February of this year it has been prevalent.

Early on she would just try starting it several times until it finally started.

The starter cranks strong.

This year I had her wait to hear the fuel pump kick on before continuing on with starting. Sometimes it would take 6 tries before you hear the pump kick on then it starts and runs just fine.

New Battery and fuel pump last month. The shop says there is power through the system to the pump and the grounds are good but the problem persists.

Anyone else have this problem or ideas of what is causing the hard start and the delay of the fuel pump kicking on?

Thanks
 

ajtbussen

New member
My wife's 1997 D 90 has had a hard starting problem for the past 4 years. 2,3 and 4 years ago the issue miraculously cured itself after a short time. She didn't have the problem for about 18 months. However, since February of this year it has been prevalent.

Early on she would just try starting it several times until it finally started.

The starter cranks strong.

This year I had her wait to hear the fuel pump kick on before continuing on with starting. Sometimes it would take 6 tries before you hear the pump kick on then it starts and runs just fine.

New Battery and fuel pump last month. The shop says there is power through the system to the pump and the grounds are good but the problem persists.

Anyone else have this problem or ideas of what is causing the hard start and the delay of the fuel pump kicking on?

Thanks
My 97 fuel pump ground wire was corroded from the plug to about 18 inches. The wire might measure good but fail under load. I spliced in a new wire and all good. Of course I replaced fuel pump first. Probably didn’t need to do that.
 

1of40

Well-known member
Have your fuel pressure checked. If the pressure isn’t holding you may have an injector problem or fuel line problem. I recently cleaned my MAF sensor and it seemed to help with my hard starts. My truck has almost 200k on it and everything is original so I’m sure I’ll need to start replacing stuff like injectors eventually.
 

Surveyor

Well-known member
I need education on this.

I am not understanding the fuel pressure element to the problem

The fuel pump was replaced and the problem persists.

It seems something is preventing /delaying the fuel pump from engaging upon ignition.

The power routing to the fuel pump was tested and is intact.
 

1of40

Well-known member
I need education on this.

I am not understanding the fuel pressure element to the problem

The fuel pump was replaced and the problem persists.

It seems something is preventing /delaying the fuel pump from engaging upon ignition.

The power routing to the fuel pump was tested and is intact.
Sorry, I didn’t pick up at first that you’ve narrowed it down to a wire/pump issue. My hard start is it takes two tries sometimes like it’s flooded. I’m assuming my problem may be a leaky injector or a pressure leak somewhere else. It’s sporadic so I’ve lived with it for years.
 
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