I have a 1999 Tahoe that has recently been giving me a problem starting in the morning. It acts as though it wants to start but and sometimes does but i have squirted it a fews time with starting fluid as to not wearmy starter ect. Once started it runs perfectly fine the rest of the day, does not miss has plently of power and will start normally. It is only when it sits for 6-8 hours that this happens. Ive read some posts about a possible injector but dont understand how that could be when it runs w/o a miss and starts normally after initially started. Do these vehicles have problems with like a fuel regulator? that allows fuel pressure to drop. Any suggestions would be appreciated thyanks for your time.

 

Unplug the vacuum hose from the pressure regulator and check if any fuel drips from the hose or nipple if so then replace the regulator if not then it is a possibility that a dirty injector may be leaking down and flooding a cylinder, if a spec of dirt gets in between the needle and the seat it will drip fuel into the effected cylinder after shut-down until the pressure in the fuel system is depleted which can take some time, this will make the engine very hard to restart.
A very strong dose of Techron fuel additive (several bottles in a single full tank of gas) can do wonders as well.

I would strongly discourage the use of starting fluid in these motors.

 

Is the regulator easily accessible or do you basically have to go about it as if you were having to replace a injector. (removing the intake). Also, if no fuel comes out of the line, and it is a injector how do you go about finding out which one it is? or is replacing all the way to go? Thanks again

 

Easy to get to and no need to remove anything on 1999, you may have to remove the black plastic engine cover on newer vehicles.

Stand at the driver tire looking into the engine compartment the regulator is on the right side top of motor just above the valve cover on the fuel rail.

 

If it is an injector try adding the two bottles of Techron before considering any injector replacement. It's much cheaper and cleans all the injectors.

 

Im not sure if I am looking at the right piece, Does it have a vaccum running to the pcv valve and also a small hard plastic line running to the other side of the engine? The piece I am looking also has a twist off top. Is this the fuel regulator?

 

Threw futher research I haveheard that the regulator is under the plentum. I have the part in hand and see no resemlence between the valve cover and fuel rail. Was this a conversion year where some were easily accesible from the outside and others placed inside the plentum. Just trying to get the real scoop before tearing into it. Thanks again

 

James,
My bad, I have 5.3L on the brain and failed to take into account that the 99 Tahoe was still using the 5.7L engine.
The regulator is under the upper intake manifold assembly which is straight forward to remove just be sure to replace the seals.