Yea, I found the 50 cent mod late yesterday. Glow Plug relay, gonna track that down, had trouble starting it again this morning. Yea, it do get cold here in south Louisiana too, even snows sometimes, sometimes more than once in a winter, like the year the Saints won the Superbowl, snowed five times here that year Well I had another eppisode today and got a chance to fiddle with it this evening and WA-LA, I think I found and fixed the problem. That two gallons of motor oil that went thru the belllhousing and underneath the truck, softened the rubber fuel hose I used to plumb the inline, on frame spin on filter between the tank and electric pump, that softened things up allowing it to kink itself where it reversed direction from the hard line back to the filter. I cut the zip ties, pulled it straight, re tied it, then took it for a hard run. It never missed a beat, got her up to 90 mph. next weekend I'm gonna fab some hardline to replace the hose. It serves me right not doing it better the first time, but I learned to "rig" stuff way back when, working in a sawmill and logging crew, old habits die hard sometimes.

 

I would suggest that you put '99 7.3 in your sig line, so that when you are on these 7.3 threads no one will mistake you for talking about a '89 Ranger.

I would almost think also that your Glow Plug Relay is worn out. You should be able to buy one at a NAPA store for around 25.00 IF you ask for it by The Part Number and not the Year/make/model. Ask for a #GPR109.

I have a plug in digital voltage readout that plugs into the accessory that will tell you a little of what is going on with your electrical system. I bought this from Wallyworld for 15.00.
When plugged in it should read.
(around)
1) 12.5v, this shows the batt voltage.
2) when turning on the key it should drop to 11.5v, this shows the GPR coming on and the voltage drop for it.
3) NOTE: if the voltage drops below 10.5v when trying to start after the 'wait to start' light goes out, the truck will not start as it needs 10.5 to start the truck.
4) After the truck starts the voltage will come back up to around 12.5.
5) when the GPR shuts off, the voltage will start to rise to the output of the Alt. Which should be around 14.5 v.

This little plug in helps you keep an eye on your Batts, GPR and Alt at the same time.

Sounds like you located some of your other problems and are working on them. keeps us posted.

It is a good feeling to have faith in our 7.3s on the long trips and short ones.

 

That sounds like a good cheap way to go with the electrical stuff. I'll look into that. I've probably got more than one glow plug not working, may not be the GPR. This morning, I cycled the GP's three times, tried to start it on thje fourth, nothing happened, then did one more cycle and it fired right off with a huge cloud of white smoke exiting the tailpipe. Really not wanting to mess with changing glow plugs right now after all the other repair jobs i've done over the past three weeks. Wishin it had a block heater on it now, that would be nice to have.

 

The white cloud is unburnt fuel...... Sounds like your Glow Plug RELAY is not working. Having two or three Glow Plugs not working would not keep it from starting. Don't mess with the Glow Plugs until you check your GPRelay.

As far as I know all of these trucks have block heaters. It would be rare if yours does not have one. The cord is very hard to find. Look around the front drivers side tow hook, tucked in behind it. If you can not find the cord there then crawl under the truck and look on the drivers side of the oil pan and the cord should be visable.

You will not need the block heater if you can get the glow plugs to come on....ie check Glow Plug Relay.

 

No tow hooks on this one. And If there was a block heater cord, it would be amazing that I'd missed it as many times as I've been under it. 99.9% sure it ain't got one. Drove a 2001 F450 a couple years back and did some service work on it too, and it did have one.

 

How many miles? Original injectors? I have one with 334K on it and it doesn't like my new fuel pump when cold. The injectors are so worn out it runs like crap and smokes until warm.

 

276,000 on it. Have no idea on the injectors. It runs great once it starts, no complaints there. Really no difference in the way it starts between the leaking pump and the new one. With the tune in stock setting, it'll run 90 mph. With it in off road, it'll top 100. Running's not an issue at all (when it runs LOL)

 

Bulla and baddad, what parts of south louisiana are you from? i too am a south louisiana resident. just moved from houma,la to hammond,la.

 

I'm in Opelousas.

 

Me and Rick "MillerFeed" are both about 20 minutes away from Lake Charles. A pretty long run to hammond. I know there are a couple of guys on the obs forum from Slidell and the red stick (Baton Rouge) area. But hey, if your ever passing through hit me up!

 

cool my dad lives in sulphur.