[automatikdonn]

I have had this issue happen a couple times now, and I am curious if it's common.

When the car is cold or has been sitting for more than one hour this issue does not happen.

When the car is warm, if I turn it off and then back on again inside of 1 hour it will periodically start hard, not start, or labor to start. This happens both via push button and remote start.

Start hard = many turns of the motor to start
Not start = exactly what it sounds like
Labor to start = it sounds like the battery is nearly dead and the starter motor has a difficult time turning over the motor.

19 Charger hellcat 18K miles

Anyone else experience this issue?

Any knowledge is greatly appreciated.

 

[mchulst]

I have the same issue, like turning the car off to get gas. If I get back in and try to start it without enough time elapsing it will struggle to start. Mine has done this from day one. Usually if it stutters or fails to start first time, second attempt it fires up just fine.

 

[Slowpoke387]

Ive noticed this intermittently as well. Almost like a weak battery but only when hot. Wonder if it’s some form of vapor lock.

 

[1MileShooter]

there should be NO hot soak start issues with a stock tune unit--hot soak/poor start (if it's cranking fast) comes down to fuel pressure or ignition fire.. Ignition issues would be very rare--check your fuel pressure when on a hot soak.
Now--if the car is hardly cranking that's a completely different issue and would almost certainly be a battery issue.

good luck

 

[Blickie]

You should do a proper Load Test on the Battery, check all connections at the battery (+ & -) and the starter, and consider that some of the intermittent cranking issue could be Starter Solenoid caused. Check all Grounds as well.

If the Starter Solenoid contacts are defective, you can get these issues. Would suggest doing a proper Starter Bench Test off the car.

If these tests are not done, then you are just guessing and potentially throwing parts at the problem.

Best!

 

[baabootoo]

Yes, I thought vapor lock was from the carburetor days. Obviously, battery would be the number one cause. Go to the dealer yet? Any electrical additions?

 

[FullOutPwr]

Are you tuned by chance? I noticed this start after having my ECU unlocked for tuning.

 

[Rockster]

I have had this issue happen a couple times now, and I am curious if it's common.

When the car is cold or has been sitting for more than one hour this issue does not happen.

When the car is warm, if I turn it off and then back on again inside of 1 hour it will periodically start hard, not start, or labor to start. This happens both via push button and remote start.

Start hard = many turns of the motor to start
Not start = exactly what it sounds like
Labor to start = it sounds like the battery is nearly dead and the starter motor has a difficult time turning over the motor.

19 Charger hellcat 18K miles

Anyone else experience this issue?

Any knowledge is greatly appreciated.

Not to that level but the behavior/symptoms suggest a low battery. And a 2019 Hellcat with 18K miles is a car that is not driven much probably not enough to really keep the battery topped up.

My 2018 Hellcat didn't like not being driven regularly. uConnect issues, mainly Performance Pages refusing to load with once or twice the uConnect screen being filled with wide vertical blue bars.

Another issue was the +paddle which would sometimes cause a down shift rather than an up shift. More rare was the +paddle pull was just ignored and not because I tried an up shift at too low an RPMs.

PCM and TCM flash up dates were applied -- by shop foreman at dealer -- who also noted a couple of low voltage errors logged. These were no OBD2 errors but something proprietary. The updates undoubtedly played and role but I also started using the car more and regularly.

 

[automatikdonn]

The car is completely stock. No tinkering of any kind (yet).

 

[Gotgap]

The car is completely stock. No tinkering of any kind (yet).

Yeah sadly it seems to be an occurring issue with many of these cars, you’re not alone...my description of it to me at least is it closely mimics when the ignition timing is off, like old school distributor stuff, but could also be fuel or battery related but definitely in that order...my newest gremlin is the latest Uconnect update causing freezing and just turning off out of nowhere when driving...wtf man I swear, and of course it never did that before

 

[mchulst]

Take a look at this thread discussing the issue. Looks like some others have found a diagnosis and solution. Looks like it could be a failed fuel pressure regulator in one of the fuel modules. Heat soak is causing the fuel to expand, if the valve in the pressure regulator is not functioning properly the module will sense a high fuel pressure condition, this causes the module to command a lower the duty cycle of the fuel pump (Pulse Width Modulated, to increase pump life). The engine is now starved of fuel that is needed to start, resulting in the no start condition, until the fuel rails in the engine bay have cooled.

Hellcat hot soak restart issue | Dodge Challenger Forum (challengertalk.com)

 

[Slowpoke387]

Take a look at this thread discussing the issue. Looks like some others have found a diagnosis and solution. Looks like it could be a failed fuel pressure regulator in one of the fuel modules. Heat soak is causing the fuel to expand, if the valve in the pressure regulator is not functioning properly the module will sense a high fuel pressure condition, this causes the module to command a lower the duty cycle of the fuel pump (Pulse Width Modulated, to increase pump life). The engine is now starved of fuel that is needed to start, resulting in the no start condition, until the fuel rails in the engine bay have cooled.

Hellcat hot soak restart issue | Dodge Challenger Forum (challengertalk.com)

Different symptom. Mine doesnt do that exactly. It doesnt crank and not start. It cranks once and starts but the crank is very slow, like a weak battery or like Gotgap mentioned - old school timing. Only happens when hot and noticeable enough that just for an instant you think it isnt going to start. What’s weird is it doesnt do it every time.

 

[GreenMachine15]

Agreed.
Slow crank has nothing to do with fuel.
It is either a battery issue or a starter issue.
I bet the battery. The factory ones are good for about 2-3 years on a non daily driven car. IMO

 

[automatikdonn]

Different symptom. Mine doesnt do that exactly. It doesnt crank and not start. It cranks once and starts but the crank is very slow, like a weak battery or like Gotgap mentioned - old school timing. Only happens when hot and noticeable enough that just for an instant you think it isnt going to start. What’s weird is it doesnt do it every time.

One would think that a cold battery would make it crank slowly (which is the opposite of what is happening). It only happens when it has set for less than 1 hour. After one hour I am unable to reproduce the issue. Also its not consistent, it just happens when it feels like it.
I am happy that I'm not alone in this issue - we will get it figured out.

Thanks all for the responses.

 

[Slowpoke387]

Agreed.
Slow crank has nothing to do with fuel.
It is either a battery issue or a starter issue.
I bet the battery. The factory ones are good for about 2-3 years on a non daily driven car. IMO

Mine is less than a year old. Built 7/2020. My experience with weak batteries is they are weaker when cold and if anything act better when after starting and getting a little boost. In the old days this would point at a starter getting hot or some sort of vapor lock. Not sure about the newer technology.

 

[DodgeCares]

I have the same issue, like turning the car off to get gas. If I get back in and try to start it without enough time elapsing it will struggle to start. Mine has done this from day one. Usually if it stutters or fails to start first time, second attempt it fires up just fine.

One would think that a cold battery would make it crank slowly (which is the opposite of what is happening). It only happens when it has set for less than 1 hour. After one hour I am unable to reproduce the issue. Also its not consistent, it just happens when it feels like it.
I am happy that I'm not alone in this issue - we will get it figured out.

Thanks all for the responses.

Hi mchulst and automatikdonn,
We certainly understand why this may be concerning. If you take your vehicle to the dealer for diagnosis, we are more than happy to get you connected with case specialists who can work alongside your dealers to explore all potential solutions.
Rob
Dodge Cares

 

[automatikdonn]

Hi mchulst and automatikdonn,
We certainly understand why this may be concerning. If you take your vehicle to the dealer for diagnosis, we are more than happy to get you connected with case specialists who can work alongside your dealers to explore all potential solutions.
Rob
Dodge Cares

Has anyone else reported this issue? What was done to fix it in the past?

You see the issue with taking my car into any service station is the problem has to be reproducible. In this case it's not, it's totally random. I have been trying to capture it on camera, but as luck would have it - I can never catch it. I am sure the car isn't just doing it for kicks, something is likely wrong.

Maybe others have more time to go haggle with the service station, but I do not.

@DodgeCares If you are willing to pre-call into my local service station so I know I am not wasting my time, I will happily take it down there. PM me for details.

I am happy to see that Dodge is watching the forums, that is pretty encouraging.

 

[mchulst]

Has anyone else reported this issue? What was done to fix it in the past?

You see the issue with taking my car into any service station is the problem has to be reproducible. In this case it's not, it's totally random. I have been trying to capture it on camera, but as luck would have it - I can never catch it. I am sure the car isn't just doing it for kicks, something is likely wrong.

Maybe others have more time to go haggle with the service station, but I do not.

@DodgeCares If you are willing to pre-call into my local service station so I know I am not wasting my time, I will happily take it down there. PM me for details.

I am happy to see that Dodge is watching the forums, that is pretty encouraging.

Hi mchulst and automatikdonn,
We certainly understand why this may be concerning. If you take your vehicle to the dealer for diagnosis, we are more than happy to get you connected with case specialists who can work alongside your dealers to explore all potential solutions.
Rob
Dodge Cares

I feel the same way. I have had and still have several issues that are intermittent and the dealer “can’t reproduce” or tell me that it’s “how they are”.
I have a heated stearing wheel that doesn’t even get warm, when my 2018 would nearly burn my hands, I have a pop that comes from something in the front driver side intermittently wheel braking or changing direction. I have this same starting issue when heat soaked, and lastly was my suspension/alignment issues I recently discussed in another one of my threads. (That I paid for out of pocket to correct because I have already lost faith in my service center and when talking to the service manager there he said they likely did not have the equipment to correct the problem).
Day one of purchasing my hellcat. I couldn’t even drive it home because I had severe vibrations starting at 35 mph. At that time I suspected tires were allowed to get flat spots. I had to fight tooth and nail to get the dealer to replace the tires. When they finally did, they scraped the paint off around the entire perimeter of all 4 wheels. And they had the never to try to give the car back to me that way. Still had bad vibrations. I paid multiple times out of pocket to have wheels balance and rebalanced to fix. All the while the dealership was blaming the tires. Saying that “just how these tires are”. They were not like that on my 2018 Daytona by the way. I decided to just live with it at a point. Well fast forward to this month when I’m disco bing that my rear subframe is misaligned, my alignment is off my large margins on all wheel and I had a out of spec camber control arm. I have all this corrected and adjustable rear arms installed. Car now rides like a dream. No more vibrations no more getting sideways every time i accelerate a little. I thought that was another problem that was just a characteristic of the car because that’s all the dealership would do about it. I know now this was the problem all along. Now I’m out of pocket almost $1600 on something that should have been repaired under warranty by the dealership, but they refused to even attempt to make a real diagnosis.

 

[GreenMachine15]

Mine is less than a year old. Built 7/2020. My experience with weak batteries is they are weaker when cold and if anything act better when after starting and getting a little boost. In the old days this would point at a starter getting hot or some sort of vapor lock. Not sure about the newer technology.

Has anyone taken an oil cap off to see if there is pressure in the crankcase during these times?
Is a sensor getting hot when parked and dropping voltage to the starter relay? In turn slowing down the cranking....
The battery is not in the engine bay, so it is not getting hot obviously. Did anything change with starter heat shield in 2020 and up?
Did the crank sensor change in 2020?

 

[Catless]

Leaking fuel injector maybe?