Occasional hard starting solved
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Occasional hard starting solved
For the last several years I have a sporadic issue where the the car would start and immediately die. I would have to hold my foot on the gas to maintain idle. Once warmed up, it was usually held idle by itself ok the rest of the day. I have a 99 Durango with a 5.2L engine.
To get to the bottom line, the issue eventually turned out to be replacing four fuel injectors (right side of engine as you faced it).
The natural most commonly recommended solution to the car not holding idle is to replace the Idle Air Controller (IAC). This was done several times and seemed to fix the issue for a while. However, the problem would reoccur weeks to a few months later.
I left the car at the shop for a couple of weeks where they worked on it and then they took it to the dealer for many days and neither could fix the issue.
Late last year I started replacing parts: IAC, MAP, Throttle position sensor (TPS), temperature sensors, plugs, wires, rotor, cap, PCM (that is a seperate story in-and-of itself), O2 sensors, alternator, battery, oil pressure sensor (it had a slight leak), vacuum hoses.
About four years ago I had the shop replace all the the fuel injectors. I was at about 100,000 miles (133,000 currently) and wanted to insure this would not be a future issue
During all this I never had a check engine light.
Two items I noticed. After a day trip from Phoenix to Prescott (about 100 miles one-way) the car would always idle fine for the next week or two. Also, sitting at a stop light I would sometimes hear/feel the engine running a bit rough and the sound was like some cylinders were not firing (I really did not draw this association until recently and assumed just a muffler sound).
Early this year I replaced four fuel injectors (left side of engine as you face it). I had noticed that two plugs were running really rich and this seemed to clear that issue, but car again would still occasionally not hold idle at startup.
A few weeks ago as morning cold weather set in (50 degrees for us) the problem started up again.
While the IAC has been the main target/concern I had a theory that if more than one fuel injectors was not working correctly when the engine was cold it was possible the IAC could not open sufficiently to hold idle.
So, I replaced the other four fuel injectors on the right side of the engine as you face it.
It is now been two weeks in cold weather and no issue what-so-ever. The sound I would sometimes hear idling at an intersection where a couple of cylinders might not be firing is also corrected.
While the problem may sound easy to resolve, I had a lot of good folks look at this issue and did not get anywhere. I suspect I did have multiple problems such as real IAC issues and fuel injectors running rich but it might have been parts trying to over-compensate.
I wanted to share this information in case it might be helpful to others.
To get to the bottom line, the issue eventually turned out to be replacing four fuel injectors (right side of engine as you faced it).
The natural most commonly recommended solution to the car not holding idle is to replace the Idle Air Controller (IAC). This was done several times and seemed to fix the issue for a while. However, the problem would reoccur weeks to a few months later.
I left the car at the shop for a couple of weeks where they worked on it and then they took it to the dealer for many days and neither could fix the issue.
Late last year I started replacing parts: IAC, MAP, Throttle position sensor (TPS), temperature sensors, plugs, wires, rotor, cap, PCM (that is a seperate story in-and-of itself), O2 sensors, alternator, battery, oil pressure sensor (it had a slight leak), vacuum hoses.
About four years ago I had the shop replace all the the fuel injectors. I was at about 100,000 miles (133,000 currently) and wanted to insure this would not be a future issue
During all this I never had a check engine light.
Two items I noticed. After a day trip from Phoenix to Prescott (about 100 miles one-way) the car would always idle fine for the next week or two. Also, sitting at a stop light I would sometimes hear/feel the engine running a bit rough and the sound was like some cylinders were not firing (I really did not draw this association until recently and assumed just a muffler sound).
Early this year I replaced four fuel injectors (left side of engine as you face it). I had noticed that two plugs were running really rich and this seemed to clear that issue, but car again would still occasionally not hold idle at startup.
A few weeks ago as morning cold weather set in (50 degrees for us) the problem started up again.
While the IAC has been the main target/concern I had a theory that if more than one fuel injectors was not working correctly when the engine was cold it was possible the IAC could not open sufficiently to hold idle.
So, I replaced the other four fuel injectors on the right side of the engine as you face it.
It is now been two weeks in cold weather and no issue what-so-ever. The sound I would sometimes hear idling at an intersection where a couple of cylinders might not be firing is also corrected.
While the problem may sound easy to resolve, I had a lot of good folks look at this issue and did not get anywhere. I suspect I did have multiple problems such as real IAC issues and fuel injectors running rich but it might have been parts trying to over-compensate.
I wanted to share this information in case it might be helpful to others.