04-05 Cummins Cold start

texanpower12 said:

I have an 04.5 3500 and am starting to have some trouble starting in cold weather, now i would assume it was the batteries but i dont have near the trouble if i plug the block heater in. Any suggestions? Ive heard about the Grid Heater? But dont know much about it. Thanks for all your help!

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mine did the same thing when i first got it. if it was plugged in, it would fire right up, but unplugged it would still start but would struggle a little. i put new batteries in and its been fine ever since.

Here are 2 thoughts...

1 - The engine has to meet a minimum crank speed for the ECM to turn on the fuel... low batteries will prevent this... you need a minimum of 10.5 volts during cranking.. BTW - any loose connections will contribute to this as well..

also... 2 - try turning on the key... for 15 sec... don't crank.. do this 2 or 3 times... this turns on the lift pump... and cycles it.. if the truck starts when you try this on the 3rd time.... that is 2 cycles with no crank and than try to crank it... its a possibility that your bleeding down the fuel pressure....

Hope this helps