Starting issue when cold

Tiny
JEFF JONES4
  • MEMBER
  • 2008 GMC ACADIA
  • 3.7L
  • 6 CYL
  • 4WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 209,000 MILES
If car sits for more than a few hours, the car will not start if immediately attempted. If you jump right in and turn the key all the way to start, the electronics will freak out, the engine will turn over but not start. The vehicle will stutter a bit. The electronic tachometer goes all the way to redline and then returns to zero. If you wait a second and start again, it starts and runs fine.

If you get in the car, turn key to on and wait a few seconds, the car starts fine. It only goes crazy if you start immediately after the car has been sitting for hours.

Cannot find any information online that mimic this problem. My thoughts are it must lose fuel pressure as it sits so it takes a second to re-prime the pump and reestablish pressure? But there are two fuel pumps, no fuel pump relay, no fuel filter as far as I can tell. Is it bad pump? Bad FPCM? Bad injector allowing fuel to leak into a cylinder?
Monday, November 20th, 2017 AT 4:14 PM

2 Replies

Tiny
JAMIECONWAY88
  • MEMBER
  • 6 POSTS
You can try to start your engine more times, do not run immediately, just wait for a few minutes.
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Tuesday, November 21st, 2017 AT 3:03 AM
Tiny
KEN L
  • MASTER CERTIFIED MECHANIC
  • 47,643 POSTS
Hello,

This sounds like a connection or battery problem. I would start with a new battery and make sure to service the cable connections.

Here are a couple of guides that will help us get started:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-replace-a-car-battery

and

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/everything-goes-dead-when-engine-is-cranked

Please let us know what happens.

Cheers, Ken
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Friday, November 24th, 2017 AT 6:30 PM

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