2003 Crank But No Start

[Turbo1Ton]

So I'm driving to my sisters place the other day (about a 250 mile trip) and after about 3 hours I decide to stop and grab a snack. When I get back in the truck I go to start it and she cranks and cranks and no start. My first thought was the lift pump because I've got about 123k on the odometer. Then I realized I can hear the lift pump and I've also got about 8-9 psi on the fuel pressure gauge. All other systems seem to be normal. I've got 2 codes (P0514-battery temp and P0480-fan relay, neither of which should keep it from starting).



I call a buddy of mine who happens to be a fellow TDR member and asked him to see what he can find. He calls me back in a few minutes and tells me the only thing he can really find is someone else had the exact same issue where he stopped to get a drink and when he tried to start the truck again, it would crank but not start. He tells me that this particular fellow used some starting fluid to get it fired and he didn't have that problem again.



So I'm a little leery of starting fluid but I decide to give it a try. I disconnected the grid heater (for those of you getting ready to grill me about that) and fired a few quick bursts into the intake hose and it fired right up. Put everything back together and finished going to my sisters (about another 30-40 miles). Got to her house and turned the truck off. Immediately tried to restart and it fired right up. It fired right up all weekend (probably 5 more times) and when I drove home (straight home, no stops) I turned it off in the driveway and immediately fired it back up, no problems.



Does anyone know of any issues with the 2003's that would cause this? I can't figure anything out other than a dying CP3. I would suspect I will begin to see this more if it is a dying injection pump.



Thanks,



Jeff

 

[CIverson]

From what I've read it would signal a possible injector failure on the return side. Or possibly a bad pressure relief valve. The reasoning one of these may be the problem is that if stuck open the truck doesn't build enough pressure in the rail to let it start. The starting fluid let it fire, which got the revs up and built up pressure so it would stay running.

 

[DE Jeeper]

About the same milalage when my injectors started to fail. Seems to be a reoccuring theam.



Aaron

 

[jelag]

What you describe to me is either a crank or cam position sensor that is on the edge of dying... at low speeds (cranking) it won't see a signal and no fuel... once the speed goes up from the starting fluid it runs...

The sensor is a hall effect design were the faster the part flies past the sensor the stronger the signal going to the ECM.....

If it is this sensor there is no smoke during cranking as the fuel is fully turned off... or something else that is fully turning off the fuel... .

 

[AllianceDiesel]

check your crankshaft position sensor next to your harmonic balancer, but 9 times our of 10 its gonna be an injector. you got either one sticking open or high injector return, do you idle your truck a lot?

 

[Turbo1Ton]

Thanks for the replies fellas.



Jelag - I would think that a bad crank or cam sensor would throw a code. I could be wrong but I know they both did on my 96 Avenger.



mopartech - I don't idle much at all. I have a turbo temp monitor that keeps it idling for a few minutes until the turbo gets below 325 F.



I would think that a lot of the items that are being described as possible issues would throw codes. Maybe I'm thinking that they are making vehicles much smarter than they really are.



I guess I should finally break down and buy the rail pressure gauge.



Thanks,



Jeff

 

[AllianceDiesel]

injector return will never cause a code to be thrown as well as a leaking injector the only time you will have an injector code is when something electrical goes wrong.