2000 Silverado starting problem

My 2000 Silverado with 5.3L, AT, 71,000m has been acting up lately. Here are the symptoms.
- ratcheting sound from engine before turning key to start
- when it starts it runs for a second then quits, also a "gasping" sound is heard after engine stops spinning
- on second try to restart it takes about 5-8 seconds to start while pumping gas pedal to keep running.

Problem use to happen occasionally, but is now occurring every couple of days. Anyone have any ideas?

I have a '99 5.3 with 40K miles and it's not as serious as yours but may get there eventually. Several months ago, it would crank excessively long before starting. I got a new battery and fuel filter along with the injectors cleaned by Mr. Goodwrench, but it still persisted. Then, I took it in to a Mr. G., who kept it for two days and said they checked everything, including the alternator, trying it out a few times a day, but of course it didn't happen to them. It happens to me periodically a few hours after I turn it off after running it for about 10 miles. After forty years of driving over 20 vehicles, I've never had this kind of problem before without something being detected. Also, I checked my air cleaner filter, which is less than a year old, and cleaned out very little because it was still white.

look @ some of the previous post about this. It is either your fuel pressure regulator or your fuel pump. I had same problem couple of months ago replaced fuel pump. expensive!

Thanks for the replies. After searching other threads I think its the pressure regulator because I took the vacuum line off and gas came out of the hose. Other threads say if it has gas in the vacuum line the regulator is bad. I'm going to try that first and see what happens. If that fixes it I'll post an update...

Sounds like regulator is bad, gas should not be coming out of vacuum hose

My 2000 Silverado with 5.3L, AT, 71,000m has been acting up lately. Here are the symptoms.
- ratcheting sound from engine before turning key to start
- when it starts it runs for a second then quits, also a "gasping" sound is heard after engine stops spinning
- on second try to restart it takes about 5-8 seconds to start while pumping gas pedal to keep running.

Problem use to happen occasionally, but is now occurring every couple of days. Anyone have any ideas?

I had a similiar starting problem with my 2000 silverado, after replacing the fuel filter, the fuel pump(OUCH!$$$) we were are the same darn thing
but on the last time it did not start at all, at first it would take about 8 turn overs to start, kinda like flooding, so I got my answer here in this forum, I want to thank you all who responded here, its the stupid
fuel pressure regulator, it think is was under $30 bucks, well now my fuel gage works again and the chirpping fuel pump are all new so im good for another 100,000 miles, thanks to all in this forum that responded, merry xmas, lol

Check the battery cable going from the battery to the power box. My cable was rotten inside and was only supplying 10v to the power box.

I had to turn the engine over a few times to start (Only sometimes)

After replacing cable everything ran fine. This has fixed two other people on this board.

I think i have a very similar problem with my 2000 chevy 2500LD 6.0L. After sitting without running for a while the engine takes a few cranks to start up. I have it under an extended warranty, and dont have much time to take it in to the shop. Would you suggest just changing my fuel pressure regulator only? Is it easy to do? Any help is great thanks.

I was having a similar problem on my 2000 z71 5.3. It would crank for five or six seconds before starting unless i had just turned the truck off. then it would start fine. i checked everything and everything seemed fine. One dealer told me my fuel pump was going bad and that the only way to find out was to leave it for a few days until they could duplicate the problem. someone on these boards finally suggested the fuel pressure regulator and that's what it was. it starts up just fine now and i think i paid $45 for the part from chevy. only took a second to change, too. if there's fuel in the vacuum line coming from the pressure regulator then its bad.