Hard starting cold

[kpring]

have a 2001 V6 4.3 GMC Jimmy (actually the wifes vehicle) which had been hard starting, and now is to the point of virtually not starting at all. For the longest time it would take two to three cranks to start it and with the last month and a half the number of cranks has accellerated to the point where it may not start and have made an appointment for a diagnostic check. A little history first. a year or so ago change plugs and I think cap/rotor for an emissions check. Passed with flyer colors. Couple weeks later check engine light comes on and my usual self let it go for a while. Finally went to auto parts store to have them read it and code said small vac leak - hoses or gas cap. Check the hose where I was changing plugs and cap and sure enough one of the vac line broke at a vac block dist point. Line was hard and must have put pressure on it and it broke right there. Reattached, disconnected the battery for a bit and check light didn't come back on for another week or so. Waited a while before having code read again- same reading, vac leak. Checked again and found no other line broken, left it that way for some time. Still no symptoms something was wrong. Finally had it checked because it was taking an extra crank or two to start. Still no other code other than vac leak . Finally change gas cap, reset code with the Auto parts place code reader, but less than a week later light came back on. Now I just heard the wife attempting to start it and after 20-25 crank attemps, so took my truck to do her errands. Earlier in the week I made an appointment at a GMC dealer for a diagnostic check and that is now three days away from happening. Still like to hear from you guys for any thoughts/ideas to check before leaving it there overnight so there get the full experience in attempting to start it cold. Does start fairly easy if it is warm. Changed the fuel pump maybe 1 1/2 - 2 years ago. Nice engineering - putting it in the tank!! Really atarting to think foreign vehicle buy for next vehicle. The sucker it designed for repair work every so often, and when they said the Jimmy wasn't covered for the recall a couple years ago on the front brake sensor corrision problem after just I spent $400 dollar to fix and THEN to recall came out, pretty much sealed the deal that this is the last Jimmy I buy.

[maxwedge]

First of all almost all FI trucks have the pump in the tank foreign or not! Have the FP tested for step one, 60-65 is required. If you did the work on the recall you can be reimbursed for this as stated in the letter you recieved!

[kpring]

Thanks for the reply, I did peruse through old posts (oopps, I know I should've done this first - duuoohh) and saw a post just like mine, and the guy even replaced his fuel like I did. Still have the fuel pressure gauge tester, so thats on tap for tomorrow. As far as the recall notice, when the initial newspaper artcile stating there would be a recall, they included every model (Yukon,etc etc) except the Jimmy! Never got a letter. I sent two emails to GM without a reply.

[blazee]

That was a TSB not a recall. There's a difference between TSBs and Recalls. There's no notification for TSBs, and they don't give you reimbursment or free repair.

As maxwedge stated you need to check the fuel pressure. Hope you didn't use a cheap pump when you replaced it, you're past the life expectancy of an after market pump.

[kpring]

Fuel pressure when I initailly checked it (without engine running) was low 40's. It is to the point where it start without the introduction of a little gas down the throat, and even then it doesn't run. When it did start and just before it stalled, the highest reading it went to was mid fifty's. So I guess I should change out the fuel pump again and be thankful I got almost 2 years out of it (not an OEM replacement). Going back to my original post, I never did find that small vacumn leak my check engine light computer code tells me I have, and I saw in a repair book about checking the fuel pressure regulator and adding vacumn for one type of check, but this book only goes up to 1998 models. With this being a 2001 model, do they still have a fuel pressure regulator and where is it located if it does, maybe that is my source of the leak and the reason the fuel pump may (or may not)be shot?