This morning I went to start my truck and had to try it a few times. It started when I cycled the key twice so I think it's entirely glow plug related. I've ordered 8 motorcraft plugs, valve cover gasket and new glow plug relay but wanted to know if there a way to check for any bad injector orings since I will already have the valve covers off.


It was in the high 40s this morning the coldest is ever been since I've owned the truck I know nothing of the history on it. It's got 287k, had a fuel leak at mechanical pump, still waiting on bar none kit to get her.

I've put in new motorcraft ipr, icp, ebp, ebp line etc. It starts right up once warm and tomorrow I'll plug it in on timer to preheat engine.


I'll be pulling fuel filter when I install efuel it there's gotta be a better test than that. Buzz test all injectors sound same, icp at idle is 580-590, ipr is 13.5 to 14.8 idles smooth, runs smooth, getting around 15.5mpg but I think fuel leak and the fact it weighs 9k and is a 4wd dually are reasons for lower mpg.

 

IPR duty cycle at WOT in 3rd will tell if orings are leaking and if the fuel filter is dark then that is a sign of oil getting into the fuel


If doing glow plugs, injector orings are not hard to do and only 64 bucks from riffraff

 

Is there any risk with unseating an injector cup or damaging anything worse when doing the injector orings? I'm not familiar with the 7.3s. Id plan on using silicone oring lube on them, would that be correct? I don't mind doing orings if it's one of those things that should be done anyway. I figure I'll already be halfway there. Do I need to remove rockers to get injectors out?

 

just use engine oil on them


its pretty easy to do


There is tons of info here to help you
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...nfo-links.html

 

There are several ways.
1) black fuel filter.

2) pull vc and watch at inj. Base for oil bubbling

3) wot free rev and check for a stumble between 2000-2500 rpm.

A slightly or just beginning to leak hpo o-ring won't show in data.

 

There's no stumble at all i can detect reving or WOT, IPR WOT around 2500rpm is 36.7%. I think i might skip doing the injector orings and wait to do them if i ever decide to do new injectors. Them seem easy enough to get to. I'll plug the truck in tonight and see if it starts easier in the morning.

 

Shawn, I agree. Do one thing at a time and get it working before moving on to something else. Your mpg will probably go up a bit one e fuel is installed. 1 no leaking fuel and 2 more constant fuel pressure throughout the rpm range. I noticed this when pulling hills. Probably glow plugs on cold start though.

 

Here is a video of it starting after sitting a few hours, oil temp still says 140F though. I've never noticed a voltage drop more than what it does in the video so maybe the glow plug relays doesnt even work. I know i can test it but i have a meeting tomorrow morning so i'd rather not mess with that in the morning so i'll leave it plugged in with the timer but the next day ill leave it unplugged and test the glow plug relay in the morning and see if it even cycles.

 

On mine the GPR won't come on unless EOT is below 135 so looks normal to me.

 

Plugged in started right up the next day. Today i went out there, around 55F this morning i check the GPR before trying cranking it does come on, i had 11.1v on the outlet side of it, batteries are new NAPA 1000CCA batteries and battery cables are new too. I noticed that the glow plug relay stays on for over a minute then just shuts off, doesnt cycle like an IDI. I went to try it and it started right up.

Im wondering if when i pulled the sending unit to fix the float on the front tank that air got in somewhere. I ran the truck for 20+ minutes after i did it with no stumble or anything but maybe that's why it was hard to start the next morning even though it idled just fine once it did start.

 

Well I take that back I had tested everything when I got up incase there was an issue I'd have time to plug it in. I went to leave for work and it wouldn't start just waiting a song as the wts light came on. I tried it in increments and it didn't start until I waited a full minute with the key on so I'm thinking there might be a few dead glow plugs. I plan on changing them out this weekend as well as the valve cover harness.

Is there a risk for breaking these glow plugs like on idis? Do they swell when the fail? I ordered motrocraft zd11s as replacements

 

there is a risk of them getting stuck, some use a wrench on the and twist them out


mine came out easy and they are autolites


you can ohm out the plugs to see which are bad, outer connector sides to ground should be about 1 ohm

 

When you go to change the glowplugs, use1/4 drive socket.
You may have to break them loose with the socket, then slip a piece of hose on to spin them out.

 

I didnt replace the glow plugs yet, i got the efuel setup installed but i gotta run and grab a fuel disconnect first thing in the morning before i can test it out. I also replace the glow plug relay though i dont think it was bad but i had already ordered it. If it still starts hard ill replace the glow plugs. I ended getting behind on things this weekend so i only got a few hours today and i decided to install the efuel setup because not starting isnt as bad as burning up from a fuel leak. I did trade my 93 209k mile 7.3L IDI longblock for a complete - injectors, turbo, harness and IDM 1996 power stroke with 180k miles today so that wasnt too bad of a deal

My fuel filter doesnt look black, this has maybe 4,000 miles on it

 

That ain't bad.
Grab a couple extra packs of the fuel line clips. Good to have on hand.
You need 5 of each for the whole system.
They come in a pack with one 3/8, one 5/16. Iirc.