My 97 Venture 3.4L is difficult to start after it has been operating. First thing in the morning, it starts up fine. Later in the day, when attempting to start the vehicle, it is difficult to start. The vehicle has 95K miles...the wires and plugs have not been changed. Could I have a weak crank positioning sensor? I seem to recall that replacing it on 2 other GM vehicles seemed to correct a starting problem. One other important point, at no time has the Check Engine Light come on, to indicate a problem with the ignition/fuel system. Is my problem simply plugs and wires? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you, Joe
97 Venture - Starting Issues
Oct 31, 2006
4 Replies
At 95,000 miles, that is certainly one of the very first things I would do. Crank sensors don't usually display hard starting symptoms. More often the engine simply quits for no apparent reason.
When your vehicle acts like it's not getting fuel, and you haven't changed the plugs and wires in many tens of thousands of miles...that's the very first thing you should do. It would probably be a good idea to change your fuel filter as well, since you're getting on up there in years and miles.
I'd do an oil change and dump in some injector cleaner to polish it off, too. It never hurts, after all...
When I changed the fuel filter on my Beretta, the fuel that spilled out of the tank side of the filter was dark brown. I'm glad I did it--but it didn't stop my fuel pump from burning out anyway, because the stress on the pump was already done.
If plugs and wires don't do it, it's time to start poking sensors *groan*
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