Hello All - finally joined to make it official - great site here!

I have a 2003 Dakota Club Cab 4x4 with a 4.7l V-8. I bought the vehicle new and have had great luck with it - until now. I just turned 63,000 miles and it has become difficult to start recently. It needs to crank over for much longer that it ever has before. I had the "tune up" done at the dealer (spark plug change, basically) and it didn't help at all. In addition to the starting difficulites, there is finally a check engine light to go along with the issues. I checked the code using information I found on this forum and found it to be "P0302 (M) Cylinder #2 Mis-Fire Misfire detected in cylinder #2".

I guess my question is "what could be causing this sudden problem"? I'm afraid it might be the fuel pump but wouldn't that generate a code? I'm not sure why only "cyl 2" would be called out if it's the fuel pump? The truck seems to start better if I turn on the key and wait about 30 seconds before cranking it. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

Not the fuel pump - the truck wouldn't have difficulty running period. Could be a fuel injector though.

Do you have any mechanical knowledge? If not, you can try putting some fuel injector cleaner in the gas tank, but the likelihood is if it's clogged enough to cause a CEL (Check Engine Light) it either needs seafoam, or another similar cleaning agent.
You can have this kind of thing done at Valvoline (The only oil change place I'd personally go to - put some others might disagree). The dealer also offers this service as well. As for a Fuel System Cleaning. It's a good idea to have it done every year or two. I think every 15,000 miles is the reccomendation.

If that doesn't solve the problem, check the spark plug, it could be gapped wrong, or it could be defective.

Also, if I remember correctly the 4.7L has separate coils for each cylinder. The coil itself could be bad.

 

Thanks for the input. I did run some injector cleaner through a couple of tanks ago, didn't seem to help. Maybe it is the coil or injector - that makes sense. The problem seemed the same before and after the plug change, so probably not that. I'm pretty good mechanically on motorcycles and older cars but not the newer fuel injected / computerized stuff. I guess this is how you learn, right?

 

yeah that's how you learn.

reason I saw inject is because you said it seems to run better if you let the fuel pump prime enough, which probably means it's getting enough fuel pressure behind the injector to force the fuel through the clog.

Good luck figuring everything out.

 

Good news and bad news...

The good - the truck is fixed. The bad - I caved and had the dealer repair it. It turned out to be a fuel pump. Repair cost - $795 plus tax! Ouch!! They also told me that they replaced the #2 spark plug because of the code reading (misfire #2 cylinder - and I had just had the plugs replaced the week before). I think it was a symptom of the fuel pump and hard starting issues, but whatever. It's fixed now. That's a ton of money but I haven't had a payment in a year and a half so I guess it's not too bad if you average it out over time.

 

Glad your back up and running!

Even though you just had the plugs replaced, one of the plugs could have been bad from the factory, or the ceramic could have gotten cracked.

 

The new Dodge fuel pump lasted 6 weeks and I started having the same hard starting issues again. I took it back to the dealer and they honored the 1 year parts and labor warranty but also found several other things that needed done while it was there...hmm....

I wonder why the part failed so quickly? Faulty part? Faulty repair? Wasn't really replaced the first time? I guess I'm naturally a little suspicious when it comes to auto repair guys.

 

My 2002 Dodge Dakota V8, 4.7 has been having some trouble starting on a completely random bases. It never happens consistently and two different things seem to happen when it does. The first thing that happened a couple of months ago was i went to start it like normal (i usually turn the key and let it prime before i start it) and it cranked then turned over but didnt get up to idle and died, then on the second attempt it started right up. This has happened at random times over the past month either when hot but usually when its cold out. The other thing that happens randomly is it will crank for about 10-15 seconds before starting. It doesnt happen multiple days in a row and happens both after sitting and after being hot, but like i said it always happens at random and not consistently like every day. I just recently replaced spark plugs and battery because it was time for that but i dont think that those were the issue... any ideas on how to diagnose and narrow down what it is?? Anything is helpful! Thanks!