i would say its the gas your using .. don not use regular ina hemi!!! its bad for the engine it saids in the hand book.. it also could be a lose wire, battery term. loose, or you may just need an oil change.. make sure they use really good oil.. not some cheap stuff when you get it changed!

 

I had the EXACT same problem happen to me on my Dakota. It turns out it was the fuel pump going South. Wouldn/t have been so bad , but it seized the final time at a gas station in Northern Oklahoma right after I filled the tank----Oh yah, and my wife and I were on a trip headed West.

 

check your battery, if you amp reading are on the very outside of the "balance" then its a low voltage and starting to take it's toll. Mine did that until i replaced it on a hunch, worked like a charm. also, mid-grade like nsyncfanatic said.

 

I have this problem every once in a great while. Only 15k miles and I'd say about once a month... maybe fewer times than that, I've had this problem, either it cranks for a while, then starts, or cranks longer than I'd like, I stop and try again. Once I was almost convinsed it wasn't going to start at all, but it did and ran fine. I posted this in another thread and somebody suggested to me that it was the transponder in the key... said that would cause exactly what I'd explained. I have yet to look into that further so I can't verify it yet.

 

Whenever my 98 Ram does this a dose of drygas, the isopropyl kind takes care of it, these engines are very sensitive to water in the gas. I was almost stranded in the wilds of Quebec, until I remembered the bottle of Vodka in the back, maybe those Saint Bernards were onto something. Hope this helps as it is cheap and easy to try first.

 

Just an update on the issue.... most of the time if the a/c switch is left on over night then the truck will be hard starting. I have been watching the amp gauge during start but have not seen anything abnormal. It still cannot be duplicated everytime so I will not waste any more time taking it in to the dealer. One time it took so long to start that the check engine light flashed on, but went out the second that the truck started.36000 miles to date 4.7 quad 2004

 

Did anyone mention that it could be a bad fuel regulator causing the fuel pressure to drop after the truck has sat for a while? Or possibly an injector is leaking, which would cause a hard start because you have to push any excess gas out of the cylinder. Just a thought.

 

I hooked up a fuel pressure gauge at the port on the passenger side of the fuel rail and drove the truck for about a week. The fuel pressure dropped off after about ten minutes of the truck being shut down. Only one time the pressure dropped to about 30 and stayed there for 2 hours after the truck was shut off. Fuel pressure goes to 60 psi as soon as the key is turned. I am with you on this and it sounds to me that if the starter can turn the truck over at the same speed everytime but is still long start time, then it would lead to a fuel issue unless it is a computer problem with spark but either of those should set off the check engine light. At this point I would love for the truck not to start so I could solve this. It will break at the least opportune time.

 

my 94 ram with 318 did that was bad fuelpump it would get stuck sometimes would have someone bang bottom of the gas tank durring cranking so pump would start pumping or would not start at all. changed fuelpump out and was all good from then on.

 

My 05 will crank for a long time once in a while.... like every 6 months or so. Actually the first time it did it was the day after i got it