Blue Chip Diesel gets a lot of calls about hard start hot, which can be the result of a worn injection pump, often setting a 216 code.
As an injection pump heats up, it can thermally expand and that is often why long crank times actually cycle cold fuel through an injection pump cooling it off, reducing the thermal expansion and allowing it to start.
Often, our cold water test, where you put some cool water on the distributer head will help to remove the thermal expansion to help indicate a worn pump is the problem.
Other hard start issues can be a drain back of the lift pump fuel supply. We have seen clogged fuel tank vents that when running, the lift pump is pulling a vacuum on the tank and then when shut off will pull the fuel back making it necessary to re-prime the system with long crank times.
Still have issues? Give us a call!