Do the 04's have a somewhat vaporlocking problem?

[K_Arts]

Both the Wife and I are having a weird problem with our 04's that we are not sure if this is a problem or not.



It seems that when it is really (less then 30 degrees) cold outside our trucks seem to crank for a while before they start. Then after they are started they are fine. On somewhat moderate mornings (30 to 40 degrees) the trucks seem to start on the second or third crank.



Here is the problem that we can not figure out. Once the truck is up to operating temperature, if we turn off the motor and let it sit for 10-15 even up to 60 minutes while shopping, we come back out to start the truck and the motor seems to crank forever before it will start. I am not making fun, but they seem to crank as much if not more then a powerstroke when they start.



I guess I am used to the 2nd gens starting on the first crank, but this seems really odd to me that this motor cranks so much. Is it normal for these trucks to crank so much before starting?



Thanks



Kev

 

[Pawpaw]

Mine does it occasionally, but it does not seem to be temperature dependent. It was in the 70's here today and it did it once.



This is my first diesel and I've had it less than 2 months and 5,000 miles. At it's worst, it only has to crank for about 5 seconds, so I figured it was normal.

 

[jakprince]

These new trucks have injectors that are fired by computer so it wont start as fast as the older ones with an injection pump that was timed to the engine. It sometimes takes a few turns for the computer to get in time with the engine because it has to rely on a sensor to tell it the position of the crankshaft. Hope this helps you.

 

[klenger]

Hi Kev:



I read the same thing about the timing being electronic. Starting time depends on how far the engine has to rotate before the crankshaft sensor syncs.

 

[jelag]

The last 2 posts are correct... and a little more information might make some sense.....



The old trucks that were mechanically timed would start to inject some fuel on the first rotation of the crank, and the flow would increase to full fuel flow once the system came up to pressure... .



On the new truck... the system pressure is higher and might take longer to come up to working pressure... but the electronic injection is the key... . before fuel can be injected... the system must be 100% timed so there is no fuel injection till the system is 100% ready... sometimes that 2 or 3 turns of the crank. . other times that might be 5 or 6 turns... . there is no doubt its slower... .



hope this has added some insight... .



Jim

 

[DPelletier]

Good explanations and I was disapointed at first with the slight cranking compared to my '01. 5, BUT I just wanted to be clear that my truck has never cranked for anywhere near 5 seconds. Maybe 3 or 4 rotations, max. I would think that really long cranking (like my old POS PSD) would indicate a problem.



Dave

 

[K_Arts]

Thanks for the information everyone, though this still really doesn't answer one question that I have... why does the problem increasingly get worse as thet truck gets up to operating temperature? I guess I don't understand, cause the Fueling system pressure should already be there, right?



On another note, we have to take the wifes truck in or the transmission recall, so she called the dealer about this problem. It was interesting to hear from them. They said that is sounds like there is a leak in the fueling system and when you crank it, that air is being sucked into one or two of the fuel lines. They said that they have seen several trucks come in with loose injectors, so they are going to check this out. But if this was the problem, wouldn't it be a continuous problem? Not a problem when the truck was war? The idle of both trucks is really smooth, so I kind of discarded this statement from the dealer. Any thoughts?



Thanks



kev

 

[BarryG]

Hey Kev, long time no see. Cant speak to your problems as I am still driving my old 01 ( and probably will until the wheels fall off and even then they will probably just get replaced). Just wanted to say hey. How do like the new ones compared to your past ones (aside from the current problem)?

 

[K_Arts]

Originally posted by BarryG

Hey Kev, long time no see. Cant speak to your problems as I am still driving my old 01 ( and probably will until the wheels fall off and even then they will probably just get replaced). Just wanted to say hey. How do like the new ones compared to your past ones (aside from the current problem)?

Barry, Good to see you still around. To answer your question about the 04. Honestly I think it is a pretty decent truck, there are definately some features on this truck that the 2gens don't have. Though if these features were on the 2nd gens and I had to do over again, I'd dump this quiet motor in a heartbeat. One of my biggest complaints is that you can't hardly hear the motor. In my 2nd Gens, I was able to hear the motor, thus point out and understand what it was doing (i. e. lugging, needing to be shifted into another gear, etc). Though these trucks sure are more comfortable in my opinion.



Boy I can't wait till they have the DTT make over and I can get rid of the slushbox. The 48RE definately is an improvement over the 47, but they are both weak compared to the DTT TC



Kev