Got a 1995 F250 7.3.
Was having issues starting cold so I decided to do the glow plugs. And the relay.

Attempt 1 as follows.
Noticed oil pouring into cylinders as I pulled injectors. Tried vacuum pump to get out, didn't get anything so kept going. It was hard as hell to start, and ran really really bad. Loud knocking from passenger side valve cover. Decided to do again.

Attempt 2
Pulled all injectors out at once, had better luck draining oil from rails after I opened up bolt on top to allow air in. Noticed little fluid going into cylinder. I cranked it over for several seconds with everything out to ensure I got all. Cleaned the injectors with shop towel, and lightly brushed with wire brush to remove carbon. Put all back together driving injectors firmly with rubber mallet until I heard/felt loud pinging. Plug in wires, try to start. Had to charge the battery 3 times, then overnight. Next morning truck started after 30 sec cont cranking. Ran like hell again. Bad shaking at idle, no power at all when trying to drive, white smoke when on gas, feels like a miss or 6.

I'm fairly mechanical inclined, with gas engines. This is my first diesel project so please be kind.

It also did not shift into second until very high rpm. Then slammed into gear. It won't go much faster than 35mph, and that's floored. Check engine light is now on, truck runs very poorly, barely idles.

Battery gague reads low during cranking, and for about a minute after starting, then pops to normal, truck runs slightly better. Don't know why I'd be having electrical,issues now but I'm open to any suggestions

Truck ran fine before except for cold start issue. Please help, I don't know what else to do.

 

Did you have most of the fluid out of the cylinders before you sealed it all up. Where are the injector orings from? Where are the glow plugs from? You may just be experiencing the oil and fuel rails working the air out. Most say to drive it like you stole it for even as much as 200 miles to get the air out. Until it's gone you may experience hard starts. The volt gauge is normal. Glow plugs take a lot of power and stay on for up to two minutes after the truck is started.

 

I would say let it run as much as you can and see if it starts to smooth out over time and you get the throttle response back wwhen I got my truck it sat for a year and a half took a minimum of 30 seconds of cranking to finally fire until i drove it around

 

Your 1st attempt bothers me. Did you get the oil out of the cylinders? If not, you might have bent a piston rod, I sure hope not. Seeing how it turned over your probably all right. I had to drive mine 160 miles to get all the air out.

 

Yes I think I did, can't be positive though. I did the hand vacuum pump and got nothing, then cranked over with injectors out several times to make sure. A lot of oil came dumping out when I cranked. But only in #4 and #8.
Glow plugs are dieselrx.

Is there any way to burp out the air?

 

I hear you but I don't think I can drive this. I put the petal to the floor, and after a few stumbling moments, it takes off about as fast as a turtle. I can't get up to highway speed, and if there's a hill....well, I better find a way around.

I've done injectors on gas engines before, with no problems.

Just a thought, if I opened up he oil drain plugs to relieve oil from the heads, wouldn't the hpop be lower or need filling? I've checked it 7 times since first getting the truck started, and it still is full to the top.

 

It's somewhat normal for the truck to act stupid after injector changes. The system is full of air. Bothersome part is the oil that was still in the bore when cranked over. This can lead to bent rods and valves. Another thing is to remember to install the correct injector in the #8 cylinder. Most of the injectors are an ab except #8 I think it was an ad. Drive times vary on how fast the system recovers from air. Oil and coolant temp preheated helps.

 

I'd heard that same thing with the injector part#, but could find nothing. I did the driver side 1 injector at a time, so I know those are good, but did not pay attention to the part number. The passenger side I took all out, and all have part # AO.

Bent rod/valve issue....I'm assuming that like gas motors, theres no way to know without tearing it down?

 

#8 injectors only apply to some SD trucks.

Our trucks have AA injectors. AD injectors are split shot. Only found in SD trucks. The 'long lead' injector that's found in the number 8 position of some SD trucks are AE or AF

 

A thought in a slightly different direction: are you sure all of your valve cover harnesses are connected and good both inside and outside of the valve cover? And that you have them all connected right underneath?

A bad bank of connectors will cause massive power loss, rough idling and other bad stuff. Check the pins on both sides of all connectors to make sure nothing's burnt or bent.

 

I'm fairly sure that they are good, however, can't be 100%. I changed the gasket and the under cover harnesses, the outside looked good to me. I tried jiggling the wires on both sides of gasket connection while running, no change. I don't see any melting. On the injector clips, the new ones don't have a rubber boot to connect like the factory ones did.

I'd like to check the wires individually if I could, can anyone here help me out with a wire-by-wire list? I wanna test each wire with multimeter if I can.

Taking the day off from busting my hands and pulling out my hair, trying to get as much detailed info as I can.

 

Here is the wiring diagram you need for the IDM. I've been following this one, but these guys have you going in the right direction so I didn't see the need to add much 'til now.

The first time you cranked on it (after the first time when you got oil in the cylinders) did it crank right over? It didn't like crank real hard the first time or crank and then stop did it?

I don't think what you're experiencing sounds much like you just have air in the system. I've done this kind of thing before and aside from the hard starts, and a little cackle the first 10 or so seconds they usually smooth out and run semi-normal. If you're missing and stumbling badly, I think there is something else going on.

I think double checking all the wiring is a good idea, and I would also encourage you to run it with the valve covers off and see if all the injectors are spitting oil or not. You can also tell which cylinders are hitting and which are missing by feeling the exhaust manifolds after you ran it for a few seconds (and then shut it off).

Just one more thing I would try is to make sure you're not getting a bunch of blowby while running it with the valve covers off or the oil fill cap removed. Big blowby (or blowby that is a lot more than you used to have) in this case is not a good sign...

Hope this all helps...

 

I'm surprised no one has caught this yet, but cranking with the injectors out will only dump more oil into the cylinders. You need to vacuum out as much as you can, then replace the injectors and crank it over without the glow plugs. That will expell any remaining oil so that you don't hydrolock.

I hope you meant to say GPs instead of injectors or atleast did some more vacuuming after cranking with the injectors out.

 

The HPOP gets refilled with crank case oil by the LPOP.

 

This is perfect! Thank you greatly
The first time I cranked over after attempt number 1 thee was no stall, lag, or anything. Cranked right over. Just took a long time to start. The first time I cranked after attempt number 2, there was hesitation. First few tries it would try to crank and stop. I was very very scared at that point, but it was dead batteries from cranking forever the day before. Charged the batteries, and cranked right over.

I'm making a list from all of this and going to go I think tomorrow to start troubleshooting. I will include pics when I go, and update. Any other suggestions are greatly appreciated.