1998 Chevy 1500,

Christopher1962

Hello, 5.0 Engine, Electronic ignition. I have a starting problem. I can turn the key to start and it will continually turn over, crank and crank forever, but will not start. But, if i just bump the key to engage the starter, just enough to engage it, it will eventually pick up and run. Any ideas? Thank you

Mr_Shiftright

I would suggest going back to basic diagnosis...when it doesn't start, find out what's missing....fuel or spark or perhaps compression in this case. It's possible I suppose that you are just teasing the engine to top dead center on a certain cylinder and that's enough to fire it, but that constant cranking cannot defeat weak compression. So I'd do a compression test given that it's such an old engine. Also I guess it's possible that your fuel pressure is low. I'm just guessing here but suggesting what I'd do if it were my truck and I needed to approach the problem logically.

If compression is good, then you need to find out if the "long-crank" is missing something that the "short-crank" provides. Maybe the "short-crank" boosts up the fuel pressure momentarily?