As the title reads, I bought an 80 a few days ago It's a 97 with 99.5k on the clock. I do not have maintenance records, but it is very clean and appears to have been loved by the previous owner(s), although I know I have some PM to do...
I really like the truck so far. I drove it ~800 miles home over two days and it ran pretty much flawlessly. I have had two issues however, thus the post.
Drove 400 miles to my parents house, drove over some big snow drifts (which was really fun), then parked it for the night. Came out in the morning and all the lights and power locks worked, but no start, not even any clicking. Put it on the charger, started immediately.
Scratched my head for a second, then drove home another 300 miles thinking I must have left the dome light on the night before or a door ajar.
This morning I went to start the truck to see if I had juice, and it fired right up, but ran terribly. The idle was up and down, seemed almost like it was choking. The A/T light was on, as was the Oil light. At this point I was worried so after 15 seconds or so I shut her down. Scratched my head again, and decided if I was going to post a question here today, that I had better be able to explain what happened a little better. Started the truck up, and it ran perfect with the typical high idle that was steady like normal. Ran the truck for a few minutes and shut her down again, then took the train to work as I always do.
I've spent some time searching for info on this strange start issue, and I've come up with the following as possible causes:
Anybody had this happen before? It *feels* like an electrical issue to me, like an alternator or battery type of issue, especially with the no start yesterday and considering it started and ran fine on the second start this morning.
Thanks in advance to everyone.
I really like the truck so far. I drove it ~800 miles home over two days and it ran pretty much flawlessly. I have had two issues however, thus the post.
Drove 400 miles to my parents house, drove over some big snow drifts (which was really fun), then parked it for the night. Came out in the morning and all the lights and power locks worked, but no start, not even any clicking. Put it on the charger, started immediately.
Scratched my head for a second, then drove home another 300 miles thinking I must have left the dome light on the night before or a door ajar.
This morning I went to start the truck to see if I had juice, and it fired right up, but ran terribly. The idle was up and down, seemed almost like it was choking. The A/T light was on, as was the Oil light. At this point I was worried so after 15 seconds or so I shut her down. Scratched my head again, and decided if I was going to post a question here today, that I had better be able to explain what happened a little better. Started the truck up, and it ran perfect with the typical high idle that was steady like normal. Ran the truck for a few minutes and shut her down again, then took the train to work as I always do.
I've spent some time searching for info on this strange start issue, and I've come up with the following as possible causes:
- starter contacts - I don't think this is the issue since I did not hear any grinding of any sort after the truck started or when I turned it off, but who knows.
- alternator / battery - after the no start yesterday, that may be my issue, and I know they can be intermittent from owning past vehicles. the battery looks to be brand new but that doesn't mean it's good... will double check the cables are tight this evening.
- air intake tube cracked? - I will be checking this first when I get home after work
- fuel pump relay - found out from searching that others described having a slightly similar issue with idling on start and that this relay was loose
Anybody had this happen before? It *feels* like an electrical issue to me, like an alternator or battery type of issue, especially with the no start yesterday and considering it started and ran fine on the second start this morning.
Thanks in advance to everyone.