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My dodge wont start- Need help

freeflow

freeflow

1/2 ton status
Joined
Nov 6, 2004
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Location
alexandria, minnesota
Well its winter in minesota, and its been a cold one so far. We have had atleast 15 nights of below zero temps so far. Well yesterday we got 13" of snow and last nite the temps dropped to -28 with a windchill of -40 below. So i go out this morning to start to the truck for work And it starts so i go back inside to finish geting ready for work, when i go back out there i find that the truck died and now will not start. It has a block heater and i had that pluged in all nite - the truck has started all the other cold nights this year. As of right now the truck wont start i have the block heater still pluged, charger hooked up to the battery and an electric heater under the hood with a tarp over the hood.

Any ideas whats wrong?? the truck has 3/4 tank of fuel. Could some water have gotten in the fuel system and froze somewhere?

Its cranking ok just not firing.

Any help or ideas guys. I live a good ways outta town and dont wanna pay 100+ dollars to have it towed to a shop to get it fixed.
 
diesel? sounds gelled up. Get some diesel 911 from power service. Mine was doing same thing a few weeks ago in -30. Would start then sputter and die. Got addative in it and been fine even not plugged in even.
 
Do you have a gas can with some gas in it? Can you hear the fuel pump running when you try to start it? Getting spark? Start with the basics, because it may not necessarily be directly related to the cold. I took my old truck through a car wash once, and it died, never to start again. Of course I checked everything I could think of, looking for water in something, only to find out hours later that the fuel pump had just chosen that exact moment to crap out.
 
do you have a sprk plug tester or jsut pull a plug and ground it and see if you have spark? If you can get starting fluid see if it runs on that. Stuff like that will narrow stuff down quickly. Check engine light? Not sure if there is a self test on those trucks to read trouble codes.
 
Ok Just went out and im not hearing the fuel pump turning on. i kinda climbed up under the truck and there is alot of snow on top of the fuel tank covering the fuel pump/sending unit. Not getting any check engine light or anything.
 
Can you pull a few plugs and pour some gas in the cylinders to see if it tries to fire up, or is it cold enough that you'll die before getting the plugs back in? :D
 
Pull the intake tube off and spray a little gas/starting fluid/carb cleaner in there and see if it tries to fire. Check fuses for fuel pump/ign and things like that.

Like said above. Narrow it down to spark or fuel problems.

I don't know how the Dodge system works but IIRC the Blazer TBI pump will run for a few seconds when you turn the key on, but wont run again unless the vehicle is started and then turned off again. If its a similar system you wont hear the pump run again.

Try tapping the fuel tank around the pump area.

Just a few ideas.
 
Ok well i dont think this truck has a fuel pump fuse. i climbed under the truck and banged around on the fuel tank and cleared some snow off of it. Then when i turned the key i heard the fuel pump kick on and the truck fired then died right away then wouldnt start again.

sounds like its all froze up to me. What you guys think?
 
My dad's truck had this problem and come to find out it was just the temp sedning unit. No idea why that makes a difference. :dunno: I guess it just sends a signal tellin the computer that it's warm and it wouldn't run.

you have no idea how frustrating that was to figure out.

Good luck man. ;)
 
well the fuel pump musta kicked in for a few seconds, it fired then died then fired then died, now it wont fire at all. It wouldnt be that big of a deal but its still -15 outside and i really dont wanna have to have it towed to town :doah:
 
might search for more dodge specific forums too, see if there is any self tests and codes type deal
 
freeflow said:
well the fuel pump musta kicked in for a few seconds, it fired then died then fired then died, now it wont fire at all. It wouldnt be that big of a deal but its still -15 outside and i really dont wanna have to have it towed to town :doah:
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Yup that's what my dad's truck was doing. when he finally got it running he'd have to hold it to the floor and it'd spit and sputter for a few then die. Then he'd have to do it all ovber again. :dunno:

If all other ideas fail that'd be the way i'd go with fixin it

Good luck man
 
unplug the temp sending unit, see if it will fire the truck up. my friends dodge died on him, i towed him home with my chevy:D next day i went to help him work on it, he say its running now. the temp sending unit was bad, so its probably has a safe mode switch, and telling computer not to start the engine:confused:. its on a 1994 dodge with a 318. might want to try that out.
 
I unpluged the temp sending unit - didnt start. My dad is gonna try to get me a new fuel pump relay tonight to see if thats the prob. If that dont work ill be calling the flatbed to come out tomorrow to bring it to the shop. I hope the fuel pump isnt bad 250$ + for a new one lol.


I need to keep my mouth shut i was just talking to the gf last nite bragging about my truck and told her nothing has went wrong with the truck in over a year, then the next day this happens:doah::doah::doah:
 
freeflow said:
I need to keep my mouth shut i was just talking to the gf last nite bragging about my truck and told her nothing has went wrong with the truck in over a year, then the next day this happens:doah::doah::doah:
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Yup it always happens. I bragged about getting 16mpg in my 94 truck with the same lift and bigger tires than my friends did in their 04 and o5 chevys. Now i get maybe 11 or 12 :doah:

My grandpa did the same thing. Bought a Jeep honcho and bragged about it being all original (which it was with 30,000 actual miles or soemthing) and the starter went out. can't get one to fit the flywheel right now :rolleyes:

Bad part is he sent his old one off for a core so he could afford the new one. Needless to say he shoulda kept it and had it rebuilt :doah::doah:
 
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