'97 J30t hard to start

[shortlid]

My brothers '97 J30t was hard to start this am. Was cranking for awhile then when it caught it blew a puff of smoke on strat-up. Does this sound like a coil going bad? Plugs are pretty new, recent fuel injection cleaner?

[driverdriver]

Sounds like the enegine was flooded.

Leading cause is one or a bunch of short trips without properly warming up.

J's don't like short trips when the engine hasn't been fully warmed.

Also check your base idle. It may need to be reset. The change in seasons throws it off.

[emerald-j]

it can also be a leaking injector and/or improper valve seating on the intake valve. i would also have to agree with driverdriver on the base idle, the j for some odd reason has to have it reset to et it running right. Now with the injector issue, if its hard to start and it blows black smoke (which means RICH a-f mixture) on startup, then an injector could be leaking especially when the engine is cooled down. This can basically happen overnight.