98' hard starting

[Squeegee]

Truck has been hard starting and the longer its sits the longer it takes to start. Its starts pretty good as long as it is restarted with in an hour, after that it just gets harder. Dont smell any gas (dont think its flooding). Bought and installed Excell plugs, wires, cap and rotor and if anything it's worse! Cleaned air filter (k&n) and throttle body with over the counter cleaner, tried fuel injector cleaner. Still does it. Problem started soon after when my A/C went out and I re-routed the seperpentine belt, bypassing A/C? I did notice that the belt tensioner is not too "springy" and think this may have something to do with it? Dont know what is going on and sometimes it starts right up even after sitting over night? Got 93,000 miles on her. Any help is appreciated!

[scoutinkeith]

I can think of two posabilities. either the alternator isn't cahrging correctly(not eanough ttension after re routing the belt) the computer needs a certan amount of voltage just to idle correctly, and if the alternator isn't charging correctly you may get symptoms similar to those caused by a bad battery. or the fuel pump could be going bad and taking longer to build preasue.

[fredjacksonsan]

Does it crank at normal speed, or more slowly? Does it take alot of cranking to start? Scoutin's right about the voltage for sure, but need a bit more info about how it's hard to start.

[LTJGWorth]

If you're not using the a/c compressor then everything hooked to the belt is running faster. That could have something to do with it.

[Squeegee]

Truck will crank just fine, just takes too many seconds on the key for it to turn over. With Winter almost here and I am worried it WILL start to strain the battery too much. I tried the "wait 30 seconds after you turn the ingintion to ACC" and it didnt seem any better? Thanks for the input fellas!