I started having this issue with my '01 LX recently. In the morning after sitting all night in colder weather ("cold" for Texas, 35-45 degrees) my LX will start but it has a habit now of having a delay between crank and the engine firing up. When I turn the key from the truck being off, the RPMs will jump to 1000 or so and then dip down to 500 or so before the engine roars to life and goes back up to 1200ish before falling into a regular idle. Essentially, it's like there is a delay between crank and engine start. I saw something similar on the forum talking about the immobilizer but it doesn't seem to show the security light at all once I insert my key. I checked the fuses in the driver's side footwell and engine bay relating to EFI but I didn't see any obvious corrosion or anything along those lines. Any ideas?
Issue with cold start (delay)? (1 Viewer)
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So it does start and run, just sort of rumbles to life and doesn't sound smooth? Does it idle smooth once it's running? On cold days up here it's not too uncommon for it to turn over a few times before coming to life but the rpms shoot right up and the fan is roaring. No dips down to 500 rpms.
Your EFI relay is under the hood in fuse panel but if your engine is starting and running I wouldn't suspect that has an issue.
May go-to advice lately is to start simple and maybe disconnect / reset your battery and clean your MAF sensor as well. It's an easy job anyone can do.
Check your grounds. Then your starter relay.
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It does start and idles fine too, but like I said has a dip in RPM first. Normal behavior in my experience is you crank it, the engine goes from 0 RPM to 1200-1300ish and then very quickly dips to around 1000 for idle and stays around there. This time, it's like the dip goes down to 500-600 and almost feels like the engine won't actually fully start and THEN the engine chokes for a brief instant and starts up fully and jumps up to normal idle RPM. It's almost like the engine is getting fuel or fully starting a half second late or something. I will try those 2 things out after work though. I can try to get footage of what I'm talking about when I start it up tomorrow morning after sitting all night.
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I will check these as well after work, worth a shot.
I had a similar issue, cold starts are almost always connected to electrical power delivery or ground. I checked the security light, and even bought the hard-to-find starter relay (if you don't have a spare go ahead and buy one they are hard to come by) .
Still had the problem and lived with it for a while and it was annoying, happened on cold mornings only. Out of frustration, I started shaking cables and accidentally touched the main battery negative and it was COMPLETELY LOOSE. I hated myself for not checking the simplest things first as everyone always recommends. The issue was resolved immediately.
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Here is a video from this morning. Looks like at first crank it didn't start at all today, but the 2nd attempt worked fine. The battery terminals and MAF look fine and I don't see any obvious loose wires in the engine bay. Any ideas??
Definitely sounds like a bad ground. Could be the starter having corroded connections under the intake. I just had to do that recently not a hard job but elaborate.
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I could take a look, It would definitely surprise me though as this is a Texas truck its entire life and the entire engine bay is VERY clean with regards to rust and corrosion, not a speck of rust in there anywhere. Anything is possible though with a vehicle of this age!
Hoosier Daddy
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OP, my somewhat new-to-me '99 LC began experiencing the exact same symptoms recently. Normally starts almost instantly, but it was taking several seconds of cranking before starting. Seemed to be related to cold air temps, as it would have the symptom if parked outside for several hours, but not if parked in the garage. Like yours, one time when the starting symptom occurred, the engine had stumbled briefly before returning to normal smooth rpms.
I checked battery voltage with engine off and it was fine, but didn't check it while starting or when symptoms occurred. So battery not really ruled out yet.
CEL comes on when starting, as normal, and immobilizer key light goes out with key inserted. No CEL when running, and no codes stored. EFI fuse looked pristine. Swapped the fuse with another, but symptoms continued.
Fuel filter is new, and fuel pump is original with 220k.
However...
I cleaned the MAF four days ago and the problem has not returned since then (although weather and driving habits have remained exactly the same). The MAF looked clean when I pulled it out, but I cleaned it anyway.
Sooooo fingers crossed that the MAF cleaning actually fixed the issue. OP, you might give it a try and see if it helps your situation.
I checked battery voltage with engine off and it was fine, but didn't check it while starting or when symptoms occurred. So battery not really ruled out yet.
CEL comes on when starting, as normal, and immobilizer key light goes out with key inserted. No CEL when running, and no codes stored. EFI fuse looked pristine. Swapped the fuse with another, but symptoms continued.
Fuel filter is new, and fuel pump is original with 220k.
However...
I cleaned the MAF four days ago and the problem has not returned since then (although weather and driving habits have remained exactly the same). The MAF looked clean when I pulled it out, but I cleaned it anyway.
Sooooo fingers crossed that the MAF cleaning actually fixed the issue. OP, you might give it a try and see if it helps your situation.
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- #12
Gave it a shot today, will see tomorrow morning to see if it helped any. Fingers crossed!
I think if it was a spark issue it would be more consistent.
