This morning woke up truck almost started and then died. Tried jumping it and the same thing happened almost started again. So me neighbor comes out with starter fluid and sprays it down the intake and the engine started but then cutoff right after. Sprayed a little more in the intake and then he told me to keep my foot on the gas during start so I did exactly that and it started. My question is what fuel related problem could be going on and has this happened to anyone else? Each time I start my truck I have to fully mash the gas pedal and then start it and quickly take my foot off the gas pedal before it starts to revv to much and then the engine acts like it normally would and idles fine.

 

Easiest way to narrow it down would be to get a fuel pressure guage or borrow one from the parts store.

When you hook it up the guage should read 45ish psi (you may lose pressure hooking it up so turn the key to the on position and take a look). If it reads 45ish but drops off quickly or doesn't reach it at all it may be the fuel pump. Also without the guage you can cycle the key to the on position 3-4 times and then try to start it, if it starts up this is another sign that it's the fuel pump.

Now if the psi is low upon hooking the guage up but jumps right up when putting the key to the on position your pump is doing its job. Let the guage sit for a little bit and check again. If pressure bleeds off a bit over time you may have a fuel injector bleeding out into the cylinder. (smelling gas when the truck starts could be another indicator of this)

I'd start there. There should always be 45ish psi in the system no matter how long the truck sat.

For my truck I had to floor it to get it to start, when it started I smelled gas. When I checked it with a guage pressure was low but jumped right up upon turning the key to the on position. When I turned the truck off and let it sit for 20-30 minutes pressure bled out to around 20ish psi, if it sat long enough... 0 psi. replaced the injectors and started like new.

Edit: There is also a fuel relay in the fuse box under the hood. not sure how to check this but the part is around $4 so its an easy replacement. If the relay is going bad this can cause hard starts as well

Another Edit: The guage hooks up to the fuel rail, almost resembles a valve stem

 

Will it stay running on its own once it warms up?

 

since these trucks are fuel injected rather than carb'ed, mashing the gas has little actual fuel effect, but it does open up the closed throttle plate, bypassing the IAC, and the TPS tells the computer you are mashing the gas, so it might increase fuel flow.

but - i'd start with 2 things. make sure the battery is fully charged, otherwise the IAC doesn't work right. Next i'd replace the IAC on the back of the throttle body, about $45-50 at any parts store. get one with lifetime warranty.

 

Could clean the iac too. If you have time.

 

maybe. poke out the hole in the bottom of the IAC well on the back of the TB. if its gunked up closed it would need cleaning. but since his idles ok once it starts, that suggests its open and breathing correctly. it just doesn't want to open up when he hits the ignition when cold.

or- his TPS is not registering idle position which tells the pcm to get the iac in gear.

 

Yep that makes sense. But cleaning it's is free and has been shown to be all that is needed sometimes

If none of that helps its time to hook a fuel pressure gauge and see what it says.

 

yep. my o'reilly's loans/rents fuel pressure gauges. you buy it with a credit card and then they reverse it when you return it. so it's free.

 

If holding the pedal open helps start your vehicle it means its getting choked out-the throttleplate is very sludged up and or your iac isn't doing its job-when you step on the pedal on injected vehicles you are only letting in more air-

 

Sort of having the same issue. Truck ran fine this morning, got home around 1:30pm, around 7:45pm started up just fine, and as soon as I backed out of my driveway and turned the wheel to go into drive and leave, truck shut off. Wasn't the battery or anything as my lights and everything stayed on. Tried to start the truck back up and just kept cranking, even when I released the key. Finally got it started by pressing on the gas a bit and had to keep on the gas for about a minute for the truck to stay running. Once i did that it idled fine, but definitely had to keep on the gas for a minute to keep the truck from shutting back off, I didn't have to really floor the gas pedal, just had to press it a little bit to get it started.