I've got an 89 Dodge W100 Ram w/ a 318. Has a TBI on it. It's not much more than a farm truck, bought it cheap to make Home Depot runs in it and just general truck stuff.
It has a bit of a problem starting, seems to get worse when it's hot out and if it's been sitting for an hr after driving it and heat soaking it will get even worse it seems. Cranks fine, just doesn't fire up. It never starts up immediately, usually 5 seconds cranking minimum. But there have been times where I literally almost had a tow truck coming it took so long, but it started eventually.
I am pretty confident spark is good. I checked a couple wires with a spark tester and the spark was pretty strong. As a precaution I went through and did some tune up items plugs, wires, dist cap/rotor. Also changed fuel filter while I was at it. Cleaned the engine ground as well.
I checked timing. Book and under-hood sticker state it should be -10° and my timing measured at -4 or -5°. I loosening the dist clamp but I for the life of me couldn't get the distributor to turn either way? Even tried tapping on the side of it w/ a rubber mallet and old screwdriver to get it to budge but no dice.
I checked the fuel and this is where I think the problem is. But not 100% sure what the culprit is exactly.
At key on, I can hear what I assume are the injectors buzzing briefly, and the fuel pump in the tank buzzes too. Although the pump only runs for a half second, something really short. I would expect it to run for a couple seconds but it does not.
Next I ran a fuel pressure gauge at the TBI. Book states idle/running psi is 14-15psi and with vacuum disconnected to the regulator is 18-20psi. At key on the pressure rises briefly but only to 5psi, then drops back to zero. During cranking the pressure slowly climbs up at which point it will usually fire up. But sometimes it doesn;t rise fast enough and it won't start in that case.
Once running, the pressure holds steady at 12psi
If I disconnect the vacuum to the regulator it does not move, stays at 12psi.
One thing I didn't really like to see is when I bled the fuel out of the test kits bleed port it had a good amount of bubbles in it? I did it for a minute and it stayed like that, so that was weird, not what I would expect. Fuel tank was at 1/4 so I added it to 1/2 and same thing.
When the truck is turned off the fuel pressure drops pretty quick back to zero. I am not sure if it should stay steady for any amount of time after key-off.
Keep in mind once the truck is started it drives great. I don't flog it so I am not sure how it drives at a WOT but it drives fine up the half throttle for sure. No idling or stumbling issues.
No Engine Codes that are relevant to this issue.
Thoughts, ideas? Fuel pump is suspect but once running the truck shows no real issues... stumbling or problems like that. To me the problem is just during the cranking time.
It has a bit of a problem starting, seems to get worse when it's hot out and if it's been sitting for an hr after driving it and heat soaking it will get even worse it seems. Cranks fine, just doesn't fire up. It never starts up immediately, usually 5 seconds cranking minimum. But there have been times where I literally almost had a tow truck coming it took so long, but it started eventually.
I am pretty confident spark is good. I checked a couple wires with a spark tester and the spark was pretty strong. As a precaution I went through and did some tune up items plugs, wires, dist cap/rotor. Also changed fuel filter while I was at it. Cleaned the engine ground as well.
I checked timing. Book and under-hood sticker state it should be -10° and my timing measured at -4 or -5°. I loosening the dist clamp but I for the life of me couldn't get the distributor to turn either way? Even tried tapping on the side of it w/ a rubber mallet and old screwdriver to get it to budge but no dice.
I checked the fuel and this is where I think the problem is. But not 100% sure what the culprit is exactly.
At key on, I can hear what I assume are the injectors buzzing briefly, and the fuel pump in the tank buzzes too. Although the pump only runs for a half second, something really short. I would expect it to run for a couple seconds but it does not.
Next I ran a fuel pressure gauge at the TBI. Book states idle/running psi is 14-15psi and with vacuum disconnected to the regulator is 18-20psi. At key on the pressure rises briefly but only to 5psi, then drops back to zero. During cranking the pressure slowly climbs up at which point it will usually fire up. But sometimes it doesn;t rise fast enough and it won't start in that case.
Once running, the pressure holds steady at 12psi
If I disconnect the vacuum to the regulator it does not move, stays at 12psi.
One thing I didn't really like to see is when I bled the fuel out of the test kits bleed port it had a good amount of bubbles in it? I did it for a minute and it stayed like that, so that was weird, not what I would expect. Fuel tank was at 1/4 so I added it to 1/2 and same thing.
When the truck is turned off the fuel pressure drops pretty quick back to zero. I am not sure if it should stay steady for any amount of time after key-off.
Keep in mind once the truck is started it drives great. I don't flog it so I am not sure how it drives at a WOT but it drives fine up the half throttle for sure. No idling or stumbling issues.
No Engine Codes that are relevant to this issue.
Thoughts, ideas? Fuel pump is suspect but once running the truck shows no real issues... stumbling or problems like that. To me the problem is just during the cranking time.
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