last winter i was having cold start problems so in March i replaced the GPR and all of the glow plugs, after that the truck seemed to start fine when cold (not plugged in), although the lowest it got was around 30 degrees at the coldest in march.

Now the snow started to fly again and 29 degrees and so today i went out to start it this afternoon, didn't drive it at all today, at it took about 3 trys to get it going.
I did notice it has been turning over more slowly the past little while and it did today as well. It will turn over like it should, alot faster, after it has been started and ran once before that day, but the mornings it has been slow. Also today it had the romps each time until it started.

With the slow crank it leads me to believe the batts are dying, that being my issue with everything else already replaced. But would bad batts give it the romps as well? Aren't the romps glow plug/GPR related?

Anything else i'm over looking?

 

Get your batts checked first. Even if your GP system is working perfectly you will still get some romps. Due to the oil being cold.

 

with the slow starts lately, its been gettin below 40 for the past couple weeks and i've heard cold kills batts, i'm hoping its the batts.....expensive but easy fix

 

Get the batteries load tested, and if they check out, get the starter tested. A starter on it's way out will spin the motor slowly too.

 

starter is new too, like april i think, but i have gone through my fair share of those to know some last longer than others

 

well i threw some new batts in, i noticed that when i went to start the truck with the new batts, the needle battery gauge on the dash was in the middle of the 'good' zone, where as after my truck sat for awhile (mainly overnight) the needle was on the very low end of the 'good' zone. so hopefully that was my problem. i guess i'll find out in the morning.....

i hate just buyin new ones without testing the old ones but i really need my truck tommorow so i took the chance...

 

Keep us posted.

 

will do thanks for the opinions

 

threw some new batteries in last night and it fired right up with no romps this morning @ 29 degrees outside... so i think that was it. I think the reason it had the romps was there wasn't enough juice to heat the glow plugs enough on top of trying to crank the motor.

 

Great news I hope that was it.

 

it was probably about time for new ones, passenger side i bought new 2 1/2 years ago when i bought it, drivers side has been on there for who knows how long.

 

One other question... What exactly makes the truck do its "romp" thing? The truck was sitting for the past day and a half and when i went to start it this morning, 32 degrees, it did the romps a couple of times then all was good. It fired right up at 29 the other day after the new batts as mentioned above. If i remember right when it was 29 i waited until i heard the GPR click off, but this morning i waited maybe 20-30 seconds or so this time for the gp's, is that not long enough?

I'm assuming this is normal using 15-40 oil. My dad has identical truck and his seems to start fine around 30 degrees w/o plugged in w/ 15-40. It just seems like 30 degrees w/o being plugged in really isn't that cold when all the batts, gp's and gpr are new and working...

Maybe i'm just too much of a perfectionist and want my truck in PERFECT condition?!?!

 

Sorry guys i'm back. I thought i solved the problem but went to start the truck this morning and its seemed slow to crank over again but it did start, just a little sluggish and rough running for a minute, which i assume is just because of the cold oil. Its only 35 degrees this morning. The truck has only been sitting since Saturday afternoon with this morning being the coldest since. Some things i noticed:

-Didn't have the normal fast crank like usual
-Battery dummy gauge was just a tad below half with key on before start
-Waited til i heard the GPR click off before starting
-No romps but ran a little rough for a minute
-No really white smoke when it started, if anything a little black puff
-Once running, Battery dummy gauge sits just under 3/4, so i belive the alternator is fine
- GPR, glow plugs, and starter all replaced spring of this year
-oil just recently changed



What else could i be checking? Or is this just normal? Is 2 days sitting enough to weaken new batts for this to happen. The thing that got me is the morning after i changed my batteries is was 29 degrees and my truck just fired right up like it was 80 degrees outside, no rough running or anything. Sorry for dragging this on, just want to get her fixed before it really starts to get cold.

Oh I don't have any way to plug it in right now, dang apartment, but i wouldn't think its even close to cold enough.

 

A cure for the "romps" is switching to a lighter weight oil like 5w-40. I use Rotella T Synthetic oil and no more romps all the way down to zero degrees.

 

I've heard of that curing the romps, but mine seems to be more of a slow cranking problem after sitting overnight or a day or two. Would cold thick oil make it slower and hard to crank?