Hey all my first post on this site.

Anyways my 03 wont start unless plugged in when it gets down to 28 or 26 deg or so. Batts were cranking slow so dodge put in new ones and reflashed the cpu with 21 updates. The truck has 110k miles and was used as grocery getter before I bought it. they said it was fixed but when I whent to get it at12deg out they had to pull it in shop to get it going. Also they left a can of starting fluid in my cupholder! Think this a fuel problem? I can only hope im getting a decent blend on fuel im getting from the station. I changed the fuel filter 5k miles ago. what about the fuel rail relief? What should I do? Thanx

 

Are your grid heaters working?

 

Be aware , that starting fluid and grid heaters DO NOT MIX! Need to check to make sure the grid heater is working ( like said above ) , also....does the wait to start lamp come on? It is the yellow little spring looking light to the lower left center of the cluster, right above the steering column.

 

Glow plugs and grid heaters are nice, but something else has to be wrong here. Big trucks have neither and as long as you plug them in, they will start no matter what the temp is. I don't know where to tell you to start but I wouldn't beat your self up on the grid heater to long. Is your block heater working? If the block heater isn't working the engine will be so cold it wont crank fast enough to start. I would check that first. Hope this helps some.

 

Leaky injectors. The CP3 injection pump cannot build enough rail pressure (around 5k psi) to allow proper atomization of the fuel for ignition.

MikeyB

 

Block heater won't make near as much difference as the grid heaters. The engine can be as warm as the block heater will get it, but having cold air in the cylinders is hard to ignite! Granted....it should still start, but need to start somewhere!

I don't think that the temperature will affect injectors leaking. IIRC, most of those that had the problem was at any temperature. I've been wrong before though!

 

Just to clarify the truck always starts right up as long as i plug it in.
It just wont start when it gets below freezing unless I do plug it in.
how can I check to see if the intake heater is working. The dash light does come on but does that actually confirm that its working?

 

My 03 wouldnt start in -35 degrees celceus. replaced batterys and plugged the truck in. run lighter oil and never had a problem since.

Nick

 

Can you hear the grid heater solenoids "click" when the light on the dash goes off? Also.....after it does start, does the voltmeter go up and down, indicating a heavy amp draw for the grid heaters? That will go away above 20 mph, or once the intake comes up to temp.....usually a few minutes.

 

i have had the same problem all winter....supposedly mine are "all six injectors" according to the dealer. I am warming the truck up now to take a small shop in farm country to get a second opion. but most likely, it will be an injector or two.

good luck with that though.

 

well, this mechanic says he thinks its the grid heaters.....so maybe thats what our cold start issue is. that would be sweet.

 

Even if the voltage drops etc as if the grid heater is working it might not be working IMO. If it's bad it probably will draw the same amount and just not work as well.

If it's unplugged you'd be able to tell because I don't think it will draw amps and you won't hear it turn off when the yellow wait to start light turns off.

 

If it is drawing enough amps to show on the guage, its heating up something! If not the grid, then you'd see the smoke from whatever it was heating up!

 

Funny and true...

 

I thought you had the grid heater checked out or am I thinking of someone else? That would be great if thats is all thats wrong as its much cheaper to replace the grid heater then replace all 6 injectors! BTW, did you enjoy last nights -5 below there in Des Moines?