Ok, I posted this in another thread but its getting to the point where I'm getting a little about not getting it started tomorrow morning, so heres whats going on:

(Its the first Dodge in my sig)

Its been starting just fine since I bought it. Its never been all that cold, but I plug the block heater in at night out of habit. Yesterday and today its been right around 32*F, and last night I ran over the plug on my extension cord and it just flattened it, so I couldn't plug it in.

So today I was going to go for a quick drive, when I went to start it up, I let the heaters warm up, and gave it a little bit of gas, and it turned over just fine, fired once, and died. Same thing for the next few tries, I let the grids warm up again too.

Still no luck, so I came and posted the problem here. Some suggested cycling the grids a few times, so I did that, and it wouldn't start. If I hold the starter it seems to run, but the minute I let it go it dies again. I've tried varying the throttle with the starter on a little bit, and it did vary, so it is getting throttle response, but I didn't do it much because I didn't want to damage my starter.

So, I ran another cord out side and plugged in the block heater. Its been hooked up for an hour and a half and I can hear the little pump running so I know its on. I tried starting it again and still no luck.

The grids do seem to be getting power because the cabin lights dim when they are on, and then brighten back up when the Wait to Start light goes off. When I tried after having the block heater plugged in, the lights didn't dim which leads me to believe that the block was warm enough that they didn't feel the need to come on (don't hold me to that, I may have just not noticed them dim).

So, what are the things I should check? Any ideas on what the problem could be?

Thanks,
DFO

 

Put your batteries on a charger. Even though it may seem like it's cranking fast enough to start it very well may not be.

 

How much if any smoke are you seeing while cranking and varying the throttle postition? If there is a lack of heat I would expect Large and I mean Large amounts of white or gray smoke.

 

No it doesn't smoke much at all... And the batteries are good, I checked them.

 

Sounds like the grid heaters are working based on your cabin light dimming. It should start at 32 degrees anyway even without them, at that temp I sometimes don't wait for the light to go out and just crank, it should start right up just give a little throttle.

So, if there's no smoke I would go on the assumption that you're not getting enough or any fuel. How old is your fuel filter, have you cleaned the prefilter screen lately, (it's in a bowl screwed to the base of the lift pump on a 96) or is there possibly water in your fuel frozen blocking a line or frozen in the filter. Gelled fuel shouldn't be an issue at 32 degrees. Can try power service 911 (red bottle) if water is suspected.

 

Could Be a plugged up fuel filter or weak pump?

 

Is the fuel shutoff selinoid holding up?

 

Good catch plow, that's a good possibility too. Seem to remember someone's post a while back, they thought the cold weather made the rubber boot stiff and was holding the shut off solenoid closed.

 

Ok, here's the story: Its been plugged in for about 2 hours now. I went out, cycled the grids twice, and then held down the starter and gave it throttle for about 5 seconds. When I let off the starter, it was idling on its own. I let it idle for about 2 minutes, not much smoke was coming out, mainly just the usual white vapor from warm exhaust meeting cold air. Just to see what would happen, I shut her off, let the grids warm up, then tried to start again. And a second time. And a third time. I didn't hold the starter as long as when I actually got it to fire up, just because I know thats not good for it, and obviously something is up. Still it didn't start up again.

So tell me if I am correct to start by checking the following:

Fuel Filter (Just replace it, correct?)

Prefilter screen

And what else would be an easy quick fix?

I guess I'll drive the 2500 in tomorrow... but I'll miss my little dually .

 

Fuel filters first, yes change the filter and either clean or replace the screen.

How long are you cranking it when you think it's "not good for it".

5 seconds isn't a long time, sometimes at an idle they won't even start that quick depending on how low it is set. If you are giving it a little throttle and it still cranks for a while then could be a slow opening fuel solenoid like plow said or other fuel problem.

 

Check and make sure the fuel shutoff selinoid is staying up and if it is try pumping the liftpump to prime the system up if it starts after priming the system open the injector lines and try to bleed the air out. You only need four things for it to run Fuel, Air, combustion, Timing. When bleeding the air out use compressed air in the fuel tank about 10psi makes it go alot faster and while your at it check the system for leaks while the air is in it.

 

Thanks plow, I think I need to get a factory service manual for this, because I have no idea where that solonoid is . I need to get the front brake rotors replaced or resurfaced, and the rear shocks replaced, and a few other things, and I usually take my trucks/cars to a mechanic I know well to get that kind of thing done, and I think hes pretty good with diesels to so I'll have him take a look at it.

Thanks for the help guys, all of you. I don't know much about this history of the truck, and I've only had it for two weeks now so I expect a few problems to pop up here and there. But I'm gonna change the oil, replace all the filters, and get a tune-up on everything else and I hope that gets it going. It seems this starting issue is a fuel delivery problem one way or another, so... at least its a start.