Engine/Transmission (1998.5 - 2002) Hard Starting at 10,000 ft+

[Lordsman]

Had a real hard time starting the truck when leaving a hunting site up along the Continental Divide in Colorado. Finally had to wire in an inverter to my RV batteries and use the block heater to warm the motor for close to 2 hours. Started right up after that.

Anybody encounter this problem?

The temperature up there wasn't all that cold, maybe 15 degrees at night. My heaters work just fine, but it just wouldn't fire.

 

[icarus33]

My first thought would be fuel related. I figure that Colorado has switched to winterized fuel by now. Was the fuel any older than a month old? Adding some of the fuel additives mentioned on the TDR here may be worth it if you suspect that you would be in that situation again. I run Lubrication Engineers year round.



What about the grid heaters? Did you hear the relay de-energize when the wait to start indicator went out. On real cold mornings, I've done this cycle twice just to get those toasters hot.



Elevation likely played a roll in all this too. I bet she smoked like a coal train.



ic

 

[Boldt's Wagon]

Elevation and cold temps are the principal reason that the compression temperature was not hot enough to ignite the fuel.



You did not say if this was the 93, could be losing some compression.



Buy some LubeTec cetane booster. Sold only in Canada, Piers has it. The cetane boost reduces ignition temp. Must be why the northern tribe uses it.



http://www.piersdiesel.com/LubeTec.htm



http://www.lubetec.com/prod_truck.htm#cetane



An old trick I used on farm equipment at cold temps. Spray some ether on a rag, place the rag near the air intake. Just a smell of ether can raise the compression temperature 50 degrees or so such that the fuel will ignite. Do not spray ether into the intake, engine damage will result.

 

[dpope]

I had the same problem 2 years ago at Keystone, CO. I believe the elevation is approx. 14k and it was about 20 degrees F. It just would NOT start. Had to plug it in for a couple of hours. The truck only had about 15,000 miles on it (plenty of compression). I don't think there was enough air to compress at that altitude to ignite the fuel. I'm not sure what happens to diesel fuel at such a high altitude but, I still do not have a problem starting at 20 degrees here in Texas which is about (~700ft) above sea level.



Anyway, same thing happened to me...



dpope

 

[LSMITH]

It is not fuel, it is not compression, none of that. The 98. 5, 99 and some of the 00 trucks will not start well if at all at high elevations at temps close to or below freezing. It is a combination of cold, lack of air, and too much fuel. It is a known problem, and there is a fix. There is a TSB for hard starts on these models that fixes it. Basically what is happening is it is over fueling for the air available. I would bet lunch that it was smoking white pretty bad while you were cranking it over and ever so close to starting, and that after 2 or even 3 grid cycles it still smoked white and almost started but not quite. If you notice the 98 and 99 24v throw a pretty good puff of smoke when they first start, the later trucks don't. It goes pretty rich on start in the original programming, works great when the engine can get enough air, but not when it doesn't. I will take a look and see if I can find the TSB # for you.

 

[hoverlover]

I had the same problem last winter. Turned out to there is a solenoid after the relay that actually runs the heater grid. The relay cycled as advertised but the trucks was hard to start. If I plugged the block heater in away she went. Anyway to make a long story short... haha... The wires on the solenoid were loose! And by the way I live in Denver.

 

[Lordsman]

The truck in question here is the '99. I feel quite confident the heater grid/relays work properly as I can hear them kick in and drop out. I'll test them out to be sure.

I think the combo of thin air/cold got me as I could really smell raw diesel fuel after trying to start it. I usually use Stanadyne fuel additive but did not have any in the tank at the time. Fuel was not in the tank long and I had purchased it from a brand new Conoco that had just installed new underground tanks.

I'm interested in that TSB(LSMITH), although I'm over 36,000 miles(41k), but that may be covered through the 100k Cummins motor warranty(I hope). Thanks for all the quick replies.

 

[LSMITH]

Lordsman, 18-015-00a is the Chrysler TSB I am thinking of. Sorry so late, I forgot about it. You can also call Cummins Rocky Mountain in Grand Junction (Denver is not nearly as good) and talk to them about it to make sure you get the right flash.

 

[jkern]

me too

i think LSMITH is correct, i was on a road trip with my '99. stayed overnight in Frisco CO... around 11k feet i think, anyhow the outside temp was about 10F and i had a heck of a time gettin her to run... thing made more smoke than a house fire too



just my thoughts