Hello all, I have a 2005 Suburban that is extremely hard to start. The truck cranks and the starter engages but it seems like there is lack of fuel ( my tank was 1/4 full ).The alternator and battery are 100% fine. When it does start the trucks seems to run like normal. I got on the throttle a little and all seems good. No lack of power or sluggishness. Should either one of those parts throw a code or a check engine light? Before I start throwing money at this I would like to narrow down possibilities. Thanks for any help.

 

either one of those can throw a code but sometimes old fashion troubleshooting works better. test your fuel pressure with a fuel pressure gauge also verify its getting spark. this might be hard to do with an intermittent issue but its not going to hurt to test your fuel pressure now. but does it only do this on cold start like sitting all night or is this the first time its acted up. the fuel pressure regulators are also know to cause issues. you could pull the vacuum line off the fuel pressure reg and see if fuel drips out (a sign that its bad)

 

Is it hard to start all the time or only after sitting a while? If it is only after sitting, it is probably the check valve in the fuel pump letting fuel bleed back into the tank. You can spray some starter fluid into the throttle body and if it starts right away, it is the fuel pump. When my truck did that, I added an inline check valve to the fuel line and the problem was solved.

 

also i found if you "prime" the system by turning the key on for 3 seconds then turn the key off for a few seconds and then try to start it again it will start.

 

Thanks all. It started yesterday morning, I left for work but the truck wouldn't start, got it started and drove to work and then it wouldn't start when I left work. I got it started and drove home and when I got home I turned it off and tried to start it again and it started right up. I did that twice and there was no issue with it starting.

 

Yes. If you do the above a few times and that gets the engine to start, then good indication of fuel pump being bad/going bad. The fuel pressure test (free loaner kit) will essentially verify/show that.

 

Son has to replace his pump on his suburban, and of course (30 gallon tank) it's full. His did the same thing yesterday.

 

Too bad GM (and most other manufacturers) do not engineer-in an access panel to get to fuel pump and fuel lever sender !!!

Stupid me !!! That would hurt dealers' service profits !!!

 

You can create your own.

 

I've seen YouTubes on doing that; I have to say that most likely I'd let a shop do this on mine, I figure a bunch of plastic fittings might break from age (2005 Yukon, 2004 and 1998 Frontiers).