Couple months ago I bought a 98 Chevy Express 2500 from a local city, so it was city owned and maintained. The van is only on 88xxx miles. I been having a little issue with the first start everyday and after that its fine. Basically the van has trouble starting, it turns over but it wont start after trying for a bit. Most of the time I have to pump the gas pedal a few times for it to start up. After that its good throughout the day and I have no issues. I have No Check Engine Light coming on either. However the last few days, it has gotten worse. It will even throw out a smoke when I first start it up for the day, and it will run a bit rough for like 20 seconds or so. The air filter is brand new, and the fuel filter was just replaced a year ago, not sure if the fuel pump has been replaced. What could be wrong with my van?

 

The check valve in the fuel pump assembly is bad. It lets the fuel bleed back into the tank and when you first start it has to refill the lines and build up pressure. You can replace the fuel pump or add an inline check valve near the tank.

 

What colour smoke?
If your spark plugs are worn out, then you will have hard cold starting. Take out a couple and check to see if the gap is too wide.
You have fuel injection, so pumping the gas is no the right thing to do. Try turning on the key and listen for the fuel pump to run a few seconds to prime the system. Once it stops, then turn it over. If it does not start then yoes it could be a fuel issue, but check the spark plugs first.

 

Its a dark smoke, almost like its black. I will check on the spark plugs this weekend.

oldchevy is there a way I can actually check the check valve to make sure that is my issue?

 

If it runs good when finally started and is hard to restart after it sits a while, that is sign of a bad check valve.

 

I called a few shops around. Is $600 for parts and labor to replace my fuel pump sound about right?

 

i replaced my fuel pump myself by dropping the tank....by myself....
and lifting the tank back up....by myself

fuel pump costs about 300 bucks.
if i ever had to do it again..i would GLADLY pay $600 to have someone else do it

 

could also be your crank shaft sensor or the coolant temp sensor. does it start rough after warmed up a little ?

When that happened to mine everyone swore left and right it was the fuel pump so the whole assembly was opened up (on a bmw) only to come to the conclusion that the system worked flawlessly...)

 

It only does it when it has been sitting for over 12 hours or so. After I have fired it up for the first time of the day, it fires up perfectly every time with no issues.

 

my 2000 van does the same thing. I checked the fuel pressure and it was bleeding off overnight. If you turn the key to the run position and wait 2-3 seconds before cranking the engine, the pump will pressure up the system and the engine will start like normal then.