Express 2500 slow to start/turn over

Hi All!

We are new here and hope someone can point us in the right direction before our problem gets worse.

We have an Express 2500 van with appx 45,000 miles on it. We bought it a year and a half ago used and it's been running/starting perfectly until now.

For the past week it's been slow when we go to start- meaning before it would start up right away and now there is a minor pause or hesitation before the engine really kicks in. It's maybe a 5 second pause and then once it's fired up it seems fine.

We did notice a new repetative whooshing sound while the engine is running as well but doesn't seem to have any issues while driving.

Our main concern in the hesitation in the start of the engine. The battery is new, we have half a tank of gas and we just had a service at the dealership a few months ago and got a clean bill of health.

Does is sound like a fuel injection issue maybe, or a starter problem? Or could it be that it's just slower to start because the temps are cooling off at night (only down to the 50-60s as we live in the Sonoran desert so it's not actually cold, but cooler than it has been obviously).

We'd like to catch this and fix it before it gets worse or something breaks completely but sadly we don't come from a mechanical background in our family.

Thanks so much!!!

Turn your ignition to "run" for 2-3 seconds before advancing to "start" - and see if this helps-- if so, you may have a fuel delivery issue brewing.

Doing this allows the fuel pump to "pump-up" before engaging the starter- which means that the fuel pressure had fallen off while sitting- which usually does not happen.

Just to clarify.

Does it sound like it is actually turning over slower or is it taking longer to start.

If its taking longer to start (commonly referred to as an extended crank) I would definitely start with fuel pressure, the lack there of, and where is it going. Fuel pressure regulators are common but fuel pumps bleeding off and other leaks could cause the same symptom.

Thanks for the replies! We should have clarified the van does turn on right away- we turn it to run for a few seconds to make sure everything is turning on like it should (electronics, etc) and then we turn it to start. It's when we turn the key to start that it's lagging- it makes the usual turning over sound before the engine kicks in where as before once we turned the key to start it would just automatically start, no delay at all between the turn of the key and the engine being totally fired up ready to go like there is now. Sorry for the lack of details on our part. Thanks for the continuted help, we really appreciate it.

excuse the typos. looking forward to hearing what you think upon our clarifications. :-)

Battery should be tested-- and also check the conections at the battery while you are at it-

This is if it is slow to turn over---

If it is turning over fine- as in extended crank time- and as fast as it should- then fuel delivery pressure need to be tested

Yup, you are describing an extended crank. Fuel pressure regulators are common issues with these but I would not suggest replacing unless it is physically leaking fuel through the vacuum port. If there is no fuel leaking than its time for a fuel pressure guage to see what the pressure is at and if it is holding pressure!

Try BRC's tip. My saturn has this problem (fuel pump bleeding off pressure) and I have to cyle the key after a hot soak to get it to start quicker.

so your saying it lags when trying to start i would have the starter tested because when you try to start the starter takes alot of juice out of the fuel pump. so i agree get fuel tested first.