Hey people today when i fired up my 2003 1500 Hemi it started fine for a second or two and then would not hold the idle and died.

Several attempts to restart failed but once i did get it running i had to feather the throttle for a minute or two till it held the idle. Then it ran fine. Almost like a carburater engine when very cold and no choke.


The engine has 88,000 miles on it.

Once it started running then everything was fine.

Any ideas?? No idiot lights came on .

Thanks for any7 help.
Stu

I had one with some weird symptoms includeing doing that ocassionally, turned out to be a bad knock sensor. Looking back it would be real easy to diagnose but it took me a while, then I unplugged the knock sensor and the truck ran like new, plugged it back in and same thing. Put a new one in and it was all good and no CEL. It was not even showing anything weird on the scanner while watching the knock graphing the knock sensor but it cured it. No knock sensor code either, just some random misfires.

Thank you!!

Check the battery.Believe me it could be all your problems.Mopars are funny weak or bad battery and they run bad.Wife ran the battery down in the Durango and when it started it ran terrible just like yours.After a good charge and it learned to run again it was finre,Ive seen tons of them do the same thing.Oh yeah dont say the battery is only X old dosent matter have it checked along with the charging system.That and make sure if it sits it is still charged up.Rocky

I agree with checking the battery. My truck acted weird when my battery was taking a crap.

Sounds like a dirty throttle body. And what can happen with the battery is that if the battery is weak enough the PCM can loose the IAC motor step count and when you start it the PCM does not know where the IAC (idle air control motor)is at. Then the PCM has to run the IAC motor all the way open and closed to relearn its count and it will idle to low most of the time when it is relearning its count. Then if the throttle blade has any carbon build up on it that makes it idle even lower as it uses alot of the air going around the throttle blade for its idle and then the IAC will fine tune the idle by controlling the amount of air it lets in.
The PCM knows where the IAC motor should be by counting its steps and then the PCM knows by the eng temp where to set the IAC for starting at certain temps. In other words if the eng is first started in the morning and its 62 degrees out it may call for an IAC setting of 70 steps. Now when you start the eng at 200 degrees the PCM may be programmed for the IAC to be at 18 steps since it needs less air and a lower idle when warmed up.

So dirty throttle body blades can cause it to idle to low and stall and a weak battery can cause the PCM to loose the IAC count and then it wont know where to set the IAC and it can idle to low and stall.
I would remove the throttle body and clean the carbon off the throttle blades as we use an old tooth brush and some mild cleaner. Then test the battery and make sure its up to par. Then when you start the car you may have to hold the throttle a little until the PCM learns the IAC count and then it should idle good on its own. Ron

If the battery is questionable replace it!
And if you need a battery Stu, go to Costco, cant beat there pricing or warranty.

I will say the truck sits a lot and yes the battery did run down very low recently. So i will check into that as well.

Thank you all!!

Stu

If truck has been sitting and the battery is weak, then I would say more than likely its the battery. If the battery is good and holds a charge, and you drove it a bit today, I would bet problem goes away.

Yes i just dont drive it enough and let the battery get too low is probably the reason for the misfiring.