Chroic starting Problem

[Devilscreekw]

Hey y'all,

I realize that not all of you have this problem but up here in central Canada we can had wildly fluctuating temperatures during the winter.

I have a 2010 Ram 2500 crew cab 4x4 that I purchased new. Currently have 60,000 km (36,000 miles) on it. This problem started from the first winter and has occurred 2-3 times each winter since.

When there is a drop in temperature after a milder winter stretch, I can start the truck in the morning, and drive it possibly for several hours, shut it off perhaps to pop into a store, or fill with gas, come back out and it will crank fine but will not fire. I will have to leave the truck and attempt to start it every half hour until it does start. When it does start it fires immediately like a summer day. This usually takes between 45 minutes to 2 hours to get rolling again.

I have had it in to my dealer every winter for this problem, and they say they can't find anything wrong with the truck. Last winter they even put in some kind of data recorder to see what it was doing, but even though I had an incident with the recorder attached, they said nothing was captured.

Today I drove the truck all day long, made numerous stops, but went to the grocery store as the sun went down, and the temp dropped to -22 Celsius, shot it of for 15 minutes, and it took me half an hour before it would fire again.

Any ideas?

 

[MyOhFive]

It never throws a CEL I'm assuming?

 

[Devilscreekw]

No CEL, no codes, nuthin'!!!

 

[Andy578]

if it's not firing it's most likely not getting spark. it could be snow melting and shorting out something. you could try putting dielectric grease on some of the more exposed connections and even the spark plugs. also throw some de-icer into your tank

 

[Devilscreekw]

Truck is always garaged, seldom has any snow on it. Also note that you can run it all day, start and stop numerous times, at -16 deg. then like last night take it to the store, turn it off for 15 minutes at -26 and I was stuck for half an hour. Fortunately there was a bar across the street. It does act like there is no spark I must admit.

 

[Andy578]

Truck is always garaged, seldom has any snow on it. Also note that you can run it all day, start and stop numerous times, at -16 deg. then like last night take it to the store, turn it off for 15 minutes at -26 and I was stuck for half an hour. Fortunately there was a bar across the street. It does act like there is no spark I must admit.

could still be getting splash from the roads. does it fire at all when you first try to start it or just nothing? have you ever run injector cleaner through it? highly doubt that'd be it tho, most likely something electrical

 

[Devilscreekw]

At -30 there is no splash from the roads. I believe it is something electrical. No it does not fire at all. Just cranks extremely well. When it does finally start, it fires immediately when I hit the key.

Going to yell at my dealer again this week. This is the fifth year of this happening, and it's really annoying.

 

[Buddy]

This is not your problem if this is the 5th winter, it's the dealers. It's their job to "find" the problem. If the techs there can't diagnosis it, there are hotshot trouble shooters they can bring in from Dodge. I used to work at a GM dealership many years ago, they had a diesel they could not figure out for the life of them. They ended up having to call up above and a trouble shooter came down from Oshawa (GM offices) to figure it out.
Ask your dealer to make some calls into Dodge HQ, there is someone that surely has dealt with, heard about, or simply can figure the problem. It's not fair for you to have to live with the problem, it's there, and they need to address it until it is found.

 

[KarL45]

Wont start condition

Reading your posts and just a thought. Could it possibly be fuel rather than spark?? Maybe, grab a can of start fluid spray. Next time it happens, spray a little into the intake air box. Curious to see if it momentarily fires?? Just a thought.

 

[jcat]

no-start condition when warm typically ends up being a cam or crank sensor. My money is on crank sensor.

 

[Andy578]

Reading your posts and just a thought. Could it possibly be fuel rather than spark?? Maybe, grab a can of start fluid spray. Next time it happens, spray a little into the intake air box. Curious to see if it momentarily fires?? Just a thought.

fuel was my next guess. starter fluid would tell you but it's pretty hard on gas engines so i wouldn't suggest using it beyond a quick test. if you do try it you don't wanna use a lot, just a quick spray is enough

 

[BraveAir]

If this is just a winter problem I'd first look at in-line fuel filters ,, it doesn't take much water to freeze a small drop.. In door parking does cause condensation in fuel in the winter.. easy to check.. D

 

[Devilscreekw]

Good suggestions all...but it just seems funny to me that at -30 it will start after 3 hours, but won't start after 5 minutes. I am still leaning towards a sensor problem.