confirmed - the relay from McMaster (PN 7995K31 ) was the Stancor/White-Rogers releay. took about 20 mins to put in. the mounting flange slots lined up perfectly with the stock GPR mounting holes. i faced my lugs toward the driver's side of the truck, for minimal strain on my 16 year old wires.

as for the old one - upon removal, i found that 2 of the wire lugs were completely detached from the housing - one big lug (the hot one) and one small lug (not sure which, but the one toward the front of the truck). they were both oxidized like they had been really hot at some point. i'm guessing an internal short developed that melted the guts and case. luckily it didnt send all that current back through the PCM and fry it - at least it didnt seem to as the truck starts and runs fine with the new GPR.

 

Got the Western Relay in the mail the other day. It is substantially larger and beefier than one I got from a local parts store for the same price, as well as larger and beefier than the stock GPR. I haven't used it yet, but my initial impressions are good. We'll see once I get it on the dump trailer and start working it.

 

Tyler thanks for the update and we will see in the future how it works.

 

OldWoodsDiesel I just had the same problem on my 1997 7.3 it didnt fire one cool morning. I pull the hood and the wire at the copper terminal was smoking and the rubber cover over it was fixn to blaze so i left it at home and took the other truck to work.Picked up a BWD solinoid they loved this thing $80.11 for it came home put it on and let it cycle the glow plugs (wait to start lite) and she fired right up.I started to search this site to see if anyone has had this problem sorry it was you and i. Happy Trucking

 

interesting - the rubber boot on mine was toast as well. its almost as if the relay turned into a giant resistor - but where was the ground? i hope it wasn't through my glowplugs - essentially keeping them running for much longer than intended... it might just be my imagination, but i feel like my truck hasn't been starting quite as well in the cold the past week or so. still starts fine, but with the brand new plugs since november its started right up and run smooth immediately. now it doesnt run quite as smooth for the first few seconds - almost like a plug or two went bad. ...again, hopefully just my imagination, but probably worth testing the plugs at the UVCH's again.

 

you nailed it. thats exactly what happened. the contacts were burnt or pitted and thats where the resistance comes in. and the ground is through the GPs.

 

Damn! i guess that's the reason you should change your relay when you change your GPs. hopefully the GPs are OK. time and/or an ohmmeter will tell...

 

Mine separated like that once, too. It was clicking all the time, and it was irritating. When I finally took it off I could pull the large posts out and put them back in - they'd fall out if I turned over the GPR. The clicking was arcing.

 

Found mine at (forhitches.com) 12.54 plus s&h. Its not a replacement it is made by western but nit sur if they ship to alaska