The 1999 caravan has a 3.8 with about 80,000 miles on it. It is my sisters. She says that the van will start right up & she can drive it with no problems what so ever. No hesitation or missing. It is after driving it for an hour or so that when she turns it off it will not start back up. She says that she has to wait about 2 to 3 hours before it will start again, only to have it do the same thing again. Is there anyone who has experienced this or may be able to shed some light on what may be causing this. Her husband changed the fuel filter & now it will not start at all. She says that there is no check engine light on either. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you. Tony

 

I would start with the fuel system too. Hard start hot is usually fuel related. You need to get a fuel pressure gauge and see what system pressure is. Then you need to see what it does with the key off. You may have a bad pump or an injector leaking when it gets hot.

 

and welcome to the forum, hope we can help.

 

Thank you. I am going over today & will check the fuel pressure. Can you explain to me about "checking when the key is off". Never heard about that one. Thanks again.

 

First you want to check that the system pressure is ok. Then you shut the vehicle off and watch the pressure and it should be able to hold it. If the pressure drops rapidly, then we install an inline hose in the system so we can isolate the pump from the fuel rail to tell if the pump is bleeding back or an injector is leaking.

 

Ok, I have no fuel pressure at all. I have power going to the pump. The fuse & relay both are good. I looked for a shut off switch but could not locate one. Autozone did not show one either. Bad pump ?
One thing that concerns me is that on other cars that I have checked the power on the conector at the pump, I would have to crank the engine over to get a signal to the light & the test light would actually pulsate. On her van I had to do the exact same thing but the light did not pulsate, it stayed on steady. Thanks for the imput.

 

Light should be on steady when cranking. Yes, bad pump. Sometimes if you hit the bottom of the tank while someone is cranking it, the pump will start to work. Then at least you can move it somewhere to work on it.

 

Thanks. I'll tell her to have her husband pick up a pump tonight.

 

Thank you Tizzy1. It was the pump & it was really easy to install compared to some other vehicles I've worked on. Thank you again.