The Dodge will not start, 10 degrees. I believe the heater grid is malfunctioning, how much does a heater grid cost?

 

Find and check out the relay for the grid heater first. Should be a simple exchange with another one in the under hood fuse panel. If that makes it work change the relay, much cheaper and easier.

 

Although the heater grid is fairly new, you might want to fill out your signature so everybody knows your exact truck. This will be helpfull for future questions as well.

x2 on the relay check first.


BTW....Welcome!!!

 

What yr. did the grid heater come into play?
Joe

 

I believe with the birth of the Common Rail, so in 2003....

Ditto on the relay BTW... much easier to check. Can you hear it click?

 

The heater grid has been in use on the 5.9 way before '03. It was on my '99. IIRC, the grid has been used since the engine was conceived....early '80's. I stand corrected though.

 

You might try giving it about 1/2 throttle while starting and cycle the grid heaters a few times before you hit the key. Do you still have 15/40 in it? If so, you get down around 5 or 10 and you need to be plugged in or it's not going to be happy about starting.

 

Here's the quick story. I live in Wyoming, we have had several months of cold weather. The 04 Dodge has always started great - I don't know if I tried it when it was -19 but plenty of times at 0F. Very, very little cranking. All of the sudden it begins to take a little cranking, and then within a few days, it will not start. (Actually I did get it running today when it warmed up.) But the change has been dramatic.

Here's what I have done.
I checked for codes, none.
I found a thread on testing the heater grid and relays. The relays tested good, as did the heater grid. After cycling the grid, I put my hand on it, and it was warm, not hot, but warm. Air temp was 16F. No start.
I changed my fuel filter this morning, but it made no difference. (From the looks of the filter it would seem this new fuel is still carrying a lot of junk.) It still would not start until the temp warmed up and it had been plugged in all morning.
Any idea what would cause the drastic change in starting?

I have it plugged in now, but I never had to plug it in before, and I am still not sure it will start in the morning.

Would a malfunction in the FCA cause this?

Thanks for your input.

 

Could be the lift pump.

 

lift pump = transfer pump? Haynes says a real check on the pump takes special tools, ie dealer.

 

Yeah, the lift pump is the low-pressure pump that feeds your high-pressure CP3 injection pump. If you have an early '04 it may be the out-of-tank, or after that it could be the in-the-tank. Both are know to have issues.

I wonder if your fuel heater is working in the filter canister? Maybe the fuel is just too cold without it...

 

Yes, the transfer pump is at the back of the filter canister. I saw it when I was under the truck checking for a kinked fuel line. The fuel heater is an idea. It seems like something like that stopped functioning. I should be able to test the fuel heater, any ideas?

 

is the front of the fuel canister warm??

 

I plan to perform that simple test in the morning. I will let you know how it turns out.

 

Crap fuel.