Having trouble starting my '06 Megacab. Takes two or three trys before she fires up after sitting for a day. I live in Vegas so the air temp is mild right now. Owned an '01 and an '05, never took more than one crank for either one. Anyone else having this problem?

 

My 05 does this some times also. Dealer couldnt find anything wrong.

 

If your local dealer can't figure it out, go for about an hour cruise down to Bullhead City, AZ.

They have one of the best diesel tech I have ever met.....PERIOD.

He's on here with the screen name of J-Body....

Sounds like the fuel system is losing pressure and draining back or you have a leaking injector.

 

Thanks alot I will try dealer one one time let them knowwhat it may be.hard to take into shop for the day no truck no work.

 

Wow....Mine fires right up, only time it sputtered at all was one night it hit 30 out and I wasnt plugged in....

 

Apparently this is a relatively common problem on the '05 and '06 years. Rumor has it that Cummins is aware of the problem and there is likely to be a TSB for this in the months ahead.
mishkaya

 

yeah... sometimes mine fires right up and sometimes it cranks for a couple seconds...

 

I don't know about the 05's and 06's but my 03' cranks like crazy compared to my old 01. On my 01 I literally only needed to "bump" the starter and it would fire right up. It probally only pushed compression on 2 or 3 cylinders at most. But on my 03 I have to let it "crank" for at least one full second then it will fire. Its been like that since day one, gotten no better or worse. And it is slightly harder to start when warm, which has me boggled, but its not bad enough for me to gripe to the dealer. I hate to say it, but it starts like a 6.0hno, not a Cummins.

Sorry for the bitter rant,

Mike

 

Thanks for all the input. I will be taking her back to the dealer to try and get this figured out.

 

i've had this happen a couple of tiems on my 05 as well.

https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...ad.php?t=82432

 

I know on the 2002 Dodge cummins and back the compression ratio for the engine was listed in the back of the owners manunal. When they changed the engine in '03 they omitted that information from the owners manual.

I am betting the 03-06 cummins have a compression ratio similiar to a big block gas engine? This is only a a guess as I have no knowledge of either.

The old engine started really easy and was very fuel efficient becuase of high compression, is my thought.

Does anyone know what the compression ratio is on a common rail cummins?

I can't remember what it was on my '02, can someone with an older dodge look up the ratio and post it for comparison.

Thanks

 

I read somewhere on here that our comp ratio was 17:1

 

A relative with a new '06 is also having the hard start issue. Dealer couldn't find anything wrong.
Just read on the TDR that there is a fix in software and should be on the Tech Connect sometime this week.

MikeyB

 

Mike,
I had a 99 and had the same issue with my 03....Never a problem just a few more turns! I know on the gassers when they started to go computerized they would allow it to do a few extra turns before it started to get some oil pressure going before it fired.....I figured they were doing it on ours....maybe?! Sounds good....Or maybe there starter sales were in a slump......LOL

 

On the current 3rd gen trucks there are lot more electronics than ever before. One reason you have a longer cranking duration over previous models is the injection system. Our trucks use electronic injectors and in order for this to work our ECM needs to be in tune with the engine. When you start cranking the truck over the ECM needs to pick up a signal from the crank position sensor so it knows what number injector to fire next. If for some reason the CPS gets a poor signal the truck may continue to crank until it sorts itself out.

On old mechanical pumps once you bumped the starter the injectors were ready to supply fuel to the next firing cylinder because the engine was timed mechanically. There were no electronic signals that needed to be picked up and anylized by the ECM prior to fuel delivery.