Hi All,

I have a 2003 Blazer that has trouble starting sometimes, and at other times it starts right up without a problem. The battery is brand new and the crank is very strong. When the issue occurs, I will keep turning the key and when it feel like a start I will let go of the key but no luck(no start). Once it goes into the phase, I can turn the key up to 7 plus times but it will never turn over and start. At this point I can hold the gas pedal down and can get it started with the next key turn, rough idol and if I let go of the gas pedal it will stall. So it basically only likes to be started normally, and then it will idol normally and no stall.

133,000 on the truck and when it starts normally it runs great. Never changed the plugs, wires or distributor on this vehicle. One mechanic thinks that could be the problem, but he wanted $600 to change the plugs, wires, cap and rotor because he said the plugs are hard to get to...is this a fair price?

More importantly. can anyone shed some light on what could be causing this intermittent starting problem?

Thanks in advance!

 

I would not pay $600 for that. The #3 plug is hard to get at but you can do it all yourself, there are write ups on here that show you how to do it too.

 

Thanks Bear. I still rather just pay someone to do the work as I dont have the tools to do it myself. But could this be the cause of my starting issues?

 

Thats a lot of money to spend on a guess, even if it's a mechanics guess. It's possible that the mechanic is right, but it would be a waste to replace all those parts only to find out that the real problem is a leaky spider or bad fuel pump. You should do a fuel pressure leak down test before you start throwing money at your truck.

Did the mechanic use a scanner to pull any trouble codes? If there are any stored trouble codes it would help a lot towards finding the problem.

 

I agree with El_Beautor. My leakdown test nailed it. What was happening was the first time starting in the morning, it would start right up. Then after driving awhile, like going to a store, it would take three or four seconds before starting up. My fuel pressure regulator was leaking and that must have been "flooding" the engine. Does that term still apply to these engines? Anyway, overnight that excess fuel disappears and starting is no problem.

Post any codes.