I just had my "new" '03 HO engine re-rebuilt under warranty because the rings never seated properly the first time around. My truck has 126k mi since new (first rebuild was due to 2 broken rings).

Just got it back a couple weeks ago (I live 260mi from the shop) and for the first time, tried starting it at normal operating temp today, and it WON'T. We were starting out on our vacation pulling our 5th wheel and thankfully we hadn't left town when we got stranded.

It will spin over like crazy, but it won't fire. If I leave it for 15-20min it will restart and run perfectly for as long as you want, just like nothing's wrong, but if you shut it down, it won't restart unless it sits a good while (we had about 40 cars behind us at the intersection-not a good time).

When it DOES finally decide to start, it will fire just like normal (a couple of revolutions and running like a Swiss watch). Shut it down again, and no firing, just cranking.

I have an Air Dog filter/pump system, and the lift pump is running fine, and opening the water separator drain on the engine fuel canister shows a good stream of diesel fuel, so I think the injection pump is getting fuel OK.

Any ideas?

As I said, the shop that R&R and rebuilt the engine is a 500+mi round trip, plus my warranty is now used up so I am kinda' on my own.

The engine "feels" like it has a bit less power than before the rebuild, and my wife following behind said it seems to be trailing some black smoke even when I am just cruising at 55mph on level ground, which it never did before that anyone noticed.

Thanks,
Bob