Can't get the Dodge out

[nw_bearcat]

I've got a '01 Dodge w/ the 360. I don't drive it much, I last had it out there around the first of the year. It's at or below 0 here in IA today, and I thought I'd drive it to work. I knew the battery was a little weak, but it hadn't failed to start yet. I hit the key, and reerrr, reeerrrrr, click. Ok, no prob. Get out the charger, hook it up, let it cook for a while, same thing, but with a blub blub, the pickup fires a couple times but doesn't start and run. Let the charger work a while and do it again, with similar results. I've gotta leave soon, so I start the other ride, and keep fiddling with this one. No positive results, so I leave, I get about 4 miles down the road and then don't remember what I sat the charger on, back home. When I return the maintance free battery is leaking juice out of the caps. I take it out and set it on the floor and go to work. Now, I checked the voltage as it came of the charger, and it was 12.95V. I'll check it again tonight, but I'm probably going to buy a new battery anyway. But is there anything I can do to help it start once I get a new battery on it? Can you flood a TBI engine? Dad thought maybe if the battery wasn't supplying full voltage to the started and injector that the battery could solve the issue completely. I may get one of those magnetic engine heaters and try to warm the block up a little.

 

[Mike M]

Your Dad may be right on. This new fangled junk is VERY voltage sensitive.

 

[mj]

When you get ready to start it take a hairdryer or heat gun and run it into the intake for a bit to warm the plugs .... sometimes they get frosted. You'll have to turn it over several times to get valves on different cylinders open so the air will get to the plugs.

 

[Kevin Meier]

That"s why the new dodges come with a heated tailgaite. So ya don"t get frostbite when yer pushin em. Gotta love that Iowa weather

 

[Anonymous-0]

There should be instructions in the operators manual telling how to clear a flooded engine.
On GM there is a fuse you can remove to disable the fuel injection until you get a flooded condition cleared out, likely the same for Dodge.

 

[Old Ford Mechanic]

Bearcat,check the connections to your battery.Corrison on the cable ends are a real problem.I have also seen the positive cables on more than corroded from one end to the other.Is this the original battery? The truck should start fine with a new battery and good cables/connections.The cold battery getting the full power from the charger with limited venting caused the leakage.Good luck.

 

[tork rench]

bear cat, by chance if it is flooded hold the gas pedal as TIGHT as you can to the floor then turn the key immediatly to the cranking pos.holding the gas pedal to the boards.

 

[Michael Soldan]

I am only suggesting this from experience, but..could your battery have frozen..a weak or uncharged battery will freeze up and when you tried charging it , the battery boiled out some juice. the battery was likely going south anyway so a new one is the best bet, however, I have brought"dead " batteries in where it is warm, let them sit(thaw) and charge them up and they've rebounded. There should be a fuse for your fuel system to disable. crank it over until it starts firing, then reset the fuse and you should start. One bitter cold january our Grand Prix wouldn't start, I put an electric heating element under the oil pan, hung some blankets over the engine and let it sit most of the day..dang if it didn't start, and I drove around until it had totally warmed up. the dealer was telling everyone that if you flooded your engine, it needed an oil change and new spark plugs..I don't think so..driving it 'til its warmed up should evapourate gasoline, dry the combustion chambers, plugs etc. anf you should be OK.

 

[nw_bearcat]

thanks everyone. We'll get a new battery in there, and I'll have to admit the ground cable isn't as good as it should be, so its going to get a new end also. I'll look into that fuse, and see if it'll start.

 

[Aaron Ford]

Frosted Plugs? Dang, I might be on the shallow end of the gene pool compared to y'all up North... How cold does it have to be to frost a plug? Kinda glad I live down here. I mean, I complain about the cold, but I have never frosted a plug!

Comfy in WV
Aaron

 

[Anonymous-0]

New Fangled Junk ,,,IS SENSITIVE ,, Put electronic Ignition on My 54 DC ,, With a hot battery Starts quick as anything on the place ,, HOwever ,Let the battery weaken from cold WEATHER ..Will continue to crank but no fire to plugs ,, HUMMM , Took Hot wire from + post to +post on coil ,INSTANTLY motor running without aid of movement of any kind of the crankshaft.In 0 temperture ,, Never had that happen before ,, Jim

 

[Ryan - WI]

I have experienced this in my 99 Dakota. I think you just have a bad battery. When my truck battery went bad, the engine would fire but then unless I kept my foot on the gas it would die out. If I kept it running at high revs enough to charge the battery then it would idle, but when just started it wouldn't. Napa manager who knows his stuff told me Dodge's were pretty sensitive to the current and the voltage. A just about dead battery doesn't put out enough amps and the truck thinks it is shut off and stops sending fuel. Keeping it reved up lets the alternator provide enough juice. get a new battery in it and you will be fine.

 

[nw_bearcat]

That was it. A new battery I held the pedal down, and hit the key 2 times, and it was running, not that well, but it was running.

thanks all

 

[guido]

HEY NW_BEARCAT
Yes you can flood a TBI system. Just like the old days, hold the throttle to the floor if that is the case.You need to check the output voltage of your charger while it is charging to verify if it is overcharging. Open voltage test has no value.
Guido.

 

[mj]

(quoted from post at 15:09:11 01/25/08) Frosted Plugs? Dang, I might be on the shallow end of the gene pool compared to y'all up North... How cold does it have to be to frost a plug? Kinda glad I live down here. I mean, I complain about the cold, but I have never frosted a plug!

Comfy in WV
Aaron

When I worked at the IH dealer in Gunnison, CO in the 70s I went out on a lot of service calls where a guy with a gas engine tractor would forget how cold it was a and try to start it using ether ..... instant frost on the plugs. That winter it was 15-20 below at night; warming to 0-10 above during the day. Gunnison is short on humidity so frosting wasn't the problem at zero that it would be in a more humid locale at a higher temp. 8)