I would like to start off by saying thanks for any potential help/advice !

I have an 89 7.3 idi non turbo , the truck was well kept and was purchased from the original owner. The original owner died and i bought it from his wife who just wanted enough money for her daughters tuition. So what im getting at is i have no idea of the maintenance history and so fourth. I will say the truck is in awesome condition for its age. The speedo from what i can tell says it has 147K .

So my problem : the truck will start very hard , i wait for the light to go off and then start. it runs for a few seconds very erratically then it dies on me. i wait a few seconds and then try again , i hold the key longer than id like and then it finally catches and fires up. Its runs real rough and then finally will smooth out with no more problems. It will fire back up no problem after its been running and is somewhat warm. I have noticed when it was colder if i had the truck plugged up, it usually wasn't a problem and would start hassle free. but the problems seems to be getting worse. Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated !!!

On side note i doubt his has anything to do with it but , my fuel gauges stoped working a while and are now always reading empty , when i fill the tanks up the needle will move up a tick up past empty.

Thank you in advance for any help !!!!!!!!!

 

Air intrusion .. it will come in through many areas .. i start by changing out the fuel filter .. I us a BF-1222 Baldwin filter, Wix has one too ... the difference is the Baldwin, wix, napa, and such have no more screw on bowl on the bottom of the filter... cures a bunch of issues typically and its the cheepest place to start ...

also check to see if any of the injector return lines look wet or like they have been wet in the past, they will suck air, leak fuel and bleed off pressure all of wich can and will cause a hard start .. Keep us posted

 

Thanks for the advice , i know i have recently changed the fuel filter but it was one with the screw type. I will swap it our for one of the ones you recommended. Last i looked all of the lines were dry and no sign of leaks. Can a Fuel injection pump going out cause this ? Thanks !

 

Usually when the IP is starting to go, you'll start ok but once the engine is warm and you shut it off for a short time you'll then have hard/no start. I bbad this about 6 months ago, and if I let it sit between 5-60 minutes it wouldn't start, and it's because the IP stays heated from the engine bay heat, while the internals of the IP cools. Allowing some of the clearances inside to enlarge until the exterior part of the IP cools and therefore shrinks back to a tighter fit.