I picked up my truck on Sunday from the dealer in Dallas and headed back to Reno. The trip went great for the most part, but I started noticing a hard-starting problem.

The first time was on the second day... I shut off the truck to run inside and use the bathroom, and was back out in maybe 3-4 minutes tops. It cranked for probably 6-7 seconds but finally fired.

The second time was the next morning after it sat all night. It cranked for probably 8-9 seconds and didn't fire. I turned off the key, waited about five sec, then tried again and it fired right up.

This same thing happened again this morning (now back at home). Crank for 8-9 sec and nothing. Key off, on, and it fires right up. Plus every now and then during normal use, it'll crank for several seconds before firing.

None of my other three diesel Dodges have ever done this... unless you count the times I swapped injectors in the 2001 and there was air in the fuel lines. Once purged, it fired fine. But the sound of the motor during cranking was identical.

Any ideas what this might be? A leak in the system maybe? I still have plenty of engine warranty left (48k miles right now)...

Thanks!

Rob

 

this hard starting thing is an epidemic.

 

Here is a TSB that might address your problem:
http://dodgeram.info/tsb/2006/14-003-06.htm

 

DC released an ECM flash early last year for the long crank time, IIRC

Mine does it about 10% of the time - so I've never bothered to have it done (besides, if a dealer saw my truck for warranty they'd just laugh!)

 

G56 trucks seem to have the hard start problem...go get it flashed so people dont look at you in a parking lot and wounder why that brand new truck takes 10 sec's to start..They came out with a new version of the flash in oct-06 and it fixed mine for good.

we all know the CTD starts after 1/2 of a crank..any more cranking and it seems like your starting a powerstroke


BTW if you stop cranking and turn the key all the way to "off " and then try again it should fire right up...makes it a little easier on your starter

 

Can anyone say whether or not a smarty might make my hard start disappear?

 

It would if it downloaded the '05 long-crank time TSB/flash into the ECM.

 

Uhhh... yeah. The smarty docs don't address this. Have any insight?

 

So far smarty = no hard start.