03 forester 2.5 Intermittent cranks hard start when hot

[fordtrucks1973]

Hi 

  First time posting on forums so bear with me. I have a 03 forester with 230k. starts fine cold when hot after setting for 5 min im getting an intermittent cranks hard start. first crank attempts to start then dies like no fuel pressure. second crank will take 25 sec before starting then runs rough like flooded then clears up and runs smooth. no codes have been generated. Installed fuel gauge shows 40 psi when occurring. new fuel filter, spark plugs and wires installed. spark from coil appears strong. installed new iac/idle air control valve. seemed to be fixed for about a week then started occurring again. not sure if cam or crank sensors could be loosing signal and not generate a code. im a ford diesel tech and don't have mush exprience with gas engines.

[1 Lucky Texan]

does the car have any other problems? any work or wrecks before this began? any cutting-out at high speeds/loads?

 

2 cheap/easy things to try ;

 

next time you feel it would experience the problem, crank the car holding the gas pedal on the floor. That triggers a 'clear flood' routing from the ECU and fuel will be cut while starting. If it starts 'better' maybe an injector is flooding a cylinder?

 

as bove, next time you think it will fail, cycle the key OFF to ON (but not START) 4-5 times, waiting 3-4-5 seconfds between each click to OFF. That should cause the fuel pump to run and pressurize the system. IF the cars starts better, maybe there is a problem with loss of pressure - not sure on Foresters, but some outbacks have a problem on the fuel pump with crack metal caps and ruptured o-rings.