Hey all! I am a newbie here, and I come to you seeking advice. I have a 2003 jeep grand Cherokee limited. Since I bought it recently, I have had issues starting it. When I start it it takes a while for it to catch, like it is flooded. The fuel pressure builds up when you turn the key, turns over no prob, then catches and starts to run rough then smoothes right out. Has loads of power and no hesitation after it starts. If I shut it off it has no problem starting unless I wait an hour or so then it begins to do the same thing, worse if it sits longer. But if I let it sit over night before I start it, it will have no problem. So there is a window starting at less than an hour to maybe eight hours or more that it has issues. Longer than that, no problems.

Other than that I noticed the oil has fuel in it from the smell. So I figured it was from a bad injector that sticks open, after a certain amount of time the pressure in the fuel rail causes the fuel to leak out of the bad injector, into the cylinder which is where the difficulty starts after getting a certain amount of fuel in it. After it sits, the fuel that leaked into the cylinder seeps past the piston into tgd oil pan. After it drains from the cylinder, the difficulty starting is not an issue.

I am not a mechanic but from what I have gathered, this is what my theory is. Has anyone else had this issue? Any other suggestions what it might be?

Thanks for your help!

 

You may have an injector sticking open and dumping fuel once the engine is shut down.