In the past 2 years, my truck has developed a cold starting issue. In lower temperatures, it will crank real slow and reluctantly. And in very cold temperatures it will practically die before starting. Plugging in always solves the issue, although it still struggles.
After cycling the grid heater completely and once I turn it over, it cycles, stops, then cycles again. After the truck starts, check engine light comes on.
Batteries are a little over a year old, alternator is new and all major cables were replaced over the summer.
If anyone has any solutions or suggestions. please let me know.

 

There are other threads currently with this exact complaint. And a number of answers.

I invite you to do a search on the topic.

Ultimately injectors may be your issue.

 

Care to share a link chief? I have done plenty of research into this and have not yet found an 'exact' situation. My injectors were tested barely over a year ago, and on top of that they are 2 years old.

 

bad injectors will not make it turn over slow....probably marginal batteries. What code are you getting with the CEL?

 

ECM Intermitten I believe. I haven't seen it since last winter but I think that is it.

 

The battery's are from Advanced Autoparts which means, yes they are definitely marginal. The first batteries I have ever had issues with. According to them though, they are holding good voltage, even in the winter, but they test the truck when its warm. Voltage drops during the grid heater cycle, and then rebounds a bit which is throwing me off. Anyway it could be the starter?

 

Not very clear in your last post, but the voltage is supposed to drop and recover during grid heater cycle. Do you know the CCA on the replacement batteries?

 

Do as suggested above. You have an injector issue not allowing the rail pressure to climb to the required starting pressure. Do a search. There are so many threads on this it is crazy.

 

Low rail pressure will not make it crank slow and reluctantly....just saying

 

You don't have an accessory causing the motor to turn over hard do you? AC clutch, alt, water pump and pulleys all spin free? Perhaps something temperature specific? I had a buddy with a 454 Chevy have the alt lock up on it and it wouldn't turn over at all. My old 95 Ram had the AC clutch wig out on a trip one time and put a tremendous strain/load on the engine and belt which in turn ate my water pump up. Lucky I got home from that trip and not left on the side of the road.




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I believe your fault is insufficient current flowing to the starter. This could be caused by poor or incorrect batteries or a resistive connection along the way to the starter or even the ground path from the engine to the chassis. Your starter motor is very large and it requires a minimum of 1200 amperes to be available. It could even be the high current contact button in the starter solenoid. Any resistance along the current path will drop battery voltage and get very warm.

 

So the CCA on these batteries is 850. Something else worth mentioning, during the week when driving to school I rarely ever hit running temp. I have noticed after long trips, it starts right up the next day in the cold weather. Maybe it could be my batteries aren't getting sufficient charge throughout the week.

I am 100% confident in the injectors. And, if it was an injector problem, it would be the same in the summer. This only occurs during cold winter months.

 

47Dodge. Could you elaborate more in that issue you described. I know for a fact there is something wrong with my fan, but I don't have the money or time and the moment to replace it.

 

Something spinning hard causing a severe drag on the serpentine belt. AC Comp/clutch turning very hard, tension/idler pulley, Alt turning hard, PS pump, water pump.


When my AC comp went out on my 95 Ram it was very hard to turn by hand.


I would pull the serp belt off and start spinning everything by hand to see if it spins freely. If something is hard to turn that could be causing the drag on the starter and not getting up to speed for a easy quick start. Plugging it in you says makes it a tad better but still difficult. That would make sense as the heat would perhaps thin the oil a bit to help in an already tough starting situation.
If something is turning hard it could cause a slip on the belt.




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