Help! 2004 Won't Start

I have been having an ongoing issue with a 2004 2500. Every once in a while the van won't start like the battery is dead. We have installed a new battery and alternator to no avail. The kicker is that the van will start every so often and keep starting for days on end. But there will be times when you turn the key to start it........nothing for a few days. Then you go out to start it days later and it fires right up like nothing is wrong.

The times that it won't start there is a cooling fan that kicks on and runs. When it does this we can instantly tell that the van isn't going to start.

I can not have this van do this. The van is needed daily for runs.

I have had the van at a dealership and a local garage who both can find nothing wrong with it.

This might help:

https://sprinter-source.com/forums/showthread.php?p=185739&highlight=ecu#post185739

I'm betting on a bad earth.

Try removing and cleaning, then re-installing all the earths, starting with the engine earth strap.

clamp BOTH jump leads to the Negative / earth / ground of the battery & clamp the one end to the engine & the other to the van body if that cures the problem you have an earth fault .
Also look for any wires / metal braids that look "cooked " as this is also a good indicator of earth faults .

The most comon is the battery to engine earth lead as these carry the largest loads current wise , rubber mountings remove most of the earth paths the engine can use , making others potential points of fire risk . I have had to repair motors which have suffered these faults

"Earth" ("Ground" on this side of the pond) is definitely a possibility. There are also several "no start" threads on this forum that ended up being connection problems in the #1 fuse block under the dash.

Altranshop.
Most likely an earth[ground] problem. To find it get a multimeter and measure the battery voltage at the positive terminal when the fault occures, if it is normal then you know it is not the battery earth. If it is low you have a bad crimp on the earth lead. Another test is to try the head lights, if they work when the fault is on then you know the problem is not a battery terminal. If the lights work and it still won't start measure the voltage on the engine block while the key is turned, if it is more than a fraction of a volt you have a bad crimp on the engine earth. Eric.

To add to Eric's suggestion, sometimes there can be a bad ground strap to the engine block. Rice rocket "tuners" often add multiple ground straps to the engine block thinking it will aid performance. It sure can't hurt to put a couple more on.

If you are going to fit extra / new earth / ground straps . Buy the cable & lugs from a welding shop . Way better quality cable & more than capable of handling the current durign start up . .

It never hurts to fit additional earth leads from battery to block , preferably close to the starter ( some starters even have earth points fitted ! ! ! !) & thicker / better earth leads to the body .

I once cured terrible radio intereferance by fiting an earth starp to the tail of an exhaust as that was the only thing not earthed . problems solved . I have had some cars where the wipers kick in when the earth has gone duff , not worked out why yet but working on that one

Anyway sun is shining so i'm off to rummage

Later people

Dingo said:

Anyway sun is shining so i'm off to rummage

Click to expand...

Why you lucky.... oh hang on it is up here too for the moment.

We are apparantly on yellow weather alert in the central belt of Scotland until at least Saturday. Apparantly the torrential rain last night caused traffic mayhem - that would be the torrential rain that started just as I put the key in the door of my van to start working on it....

So much for the summer.

As for the OP, it does sound like an intermittant electrical fault, damn near impossible to trace, but if it is a bad earth easy to fix without definitively tracing it.

Boater said:

Why you lucky.... oh hang on it is up here too for the moment.

We are apparantly on yellow weather alert in the central belt of Scotland until at least Saturday. Apparantly the torrential rain last night caused traffic mayhem - that would be the torrential rain that started just as I put the key in the door of my van to start working on it....

So much for the summer.

As for the OP, it does sound like an intermittant electrical fault, damn near impossible to trace, but if it is a bad earth easy to fix without definitively tracing it.

Click to expand...

A friend just returned from a Clan gathering and tourist trip to Scotland, all the pictures looked as I imagined, foggy and cold. I'll have to visit the ancestral homeland at some point (Clan Gregor).

Ground/Earth straps may not fix the no-start, but they may prevent surprises later once the problem is sourced. Electrical detective work is always a chore.

surlyoldbill said:

A friend just returned from a Clan gathering and tourist trip to Scotland, all the pictures looked as I imagined, foggy and cold. I'll have to visit the ancestral homeland at some point (Clan Gregor).

Click to expand...

No no, you are thinking of Washington, actually maybe we should get twinned?
Come to think of it, Washington was warmer.....

altranshop.
Have a look at "Complicated starting problem" above. Eric