Last Weekend I got up early to head to town, I was running a little late and it was about 36 degrees outside so I figured I would be fine not plugging the truck in. Boy was I wrong. I got in and double cycled the glow plugs for about 1 min each cycle and attempted to start. She cranked slow (oil must have been a bit thick I imagine) so after about 7 seconds of cranking I turned off the key. I then recycled the glow plugs for about another minute and attempted to start. She cranked and cranked but didn't catch. I repeated cycling the glow plugs and the 3rd try she caught but then died. Fourth time, I tried again cranking but she didn't start. Fifth try I cycled glow plugs, attempted to start and it caught but died again. Between all these attempts I gave it about a minute to set for the starter to cool. After the fifth try, I then noticed that my battery light was on so I went and got my charger and hooked it up to the Passenger side battery. I then went back in the cab and after cycling the plugs she finally started up. It was really rough and I had to hold it to the floor to keep her running for a few seconds. During all these attempts it was pumping light grey smoke.

I then went about my day after it was fully warmed up. During my drive to town I was running the truck about 65mph (around 2300 rpms) and I could hear an odd sound, almost sounded like I had a race car engine under the hood. I just shrugged it off and continued my drive. On my way home I stopped at a local Cenex station to fuel up (only station open late). After fueling up and paying I got in the truck and it started up just fine. After getting all set to leave, I reved it and noticed in my rear mirror a cloud of light grey smoke behind me. (Note- both of these tanks had been treated with Diesel Kleen before I fueled up.) I began to worry about something being wrong after the way it ran that day so I babied it all the way home. All day long it had been idleing a little rougher than usual. About a week before this trip I had my valve stem seals, valve cover gaskets, and injector return lines done. When I picked it up from the shop it ran great but after driving it that day I'm not so sure about the truck anymore. Anyone have a clue of what could be wrong? This has me baffled and I'm afraid if I ran it like this it will cause further problems. ANY imput would help!

 

I'm wondering if if the power connection on the GP controler or battery wasn't tightened down completely or worked loose from the changes you've done. The squeeling could be the belt slippling from either stuff on the belt on either side. Or the alternator bearing are starting to go out or the vaccume pump is starting to go. Not sure on the rough idle. Not much help but somewhere to look.

 

I checked the connections and all seems to be good and tight. I wasn't hearing a squeel at all, it was more of a rumble. My truck isn't really loud unless you have the windows down. But when I was driving, it sounded like I had a set of straights on it at that 2300 rpm. I'm wondering about my starting system again also seeing as I recently replaced 2 glow plugs and the controller but it still has problems starting. I have heard many stories from you fellas on here about starting up in colder temps with no issues, it seems mine is the opposite of that. I still don't have a clue of what could be wrong with her, anything helps though!

-Dave

PS- Sorry about the extra-long posts

 

Did you turn to start after 1 minute of GP on time..............

Turn to start after the WTS light goes out, with foot to floor or 1/2 way is the proceedure........

If it fails to start you can immediately go back to off then ignition, WTS, start as much as you like. Only crank the engine for 10 seconds at a time, then wait 1 minute to cool the starter.

 

Don't worry about the long posts. The more detailed info you have - the better help people can give.

Replacing 2 GP's-- I'm wondering if the rest should be done as once 1 or 2 start to go then the rest will follow shortly. And you replaced the controler so I think we are down to GP (6) replacement for starts.

 

I see your from SD and the weather is real cold right now. If you haven't done this change from the 15W40 oil to a 10W30 diesel oil. I do this switch just after Thanksgiving so it will roll over faster and fire right up saving the starter and frustration factor.

 

Yes, I turned to start after 1 min of GP on time. That is about how long the GP controller continues to tick after the WTS light goes out. I always hold my foot about halfway to the floor but when I was starting it on the last try I put it to the floor.

 

Hey no problem, I try to present all the information I have on hand . Well, the stealership did put one GP in and the shop that I just got my truck out of replaced that and 1 other that was starting to go bad. All the others checked out fine and clear...I might go and scout ebay for a good deal on a set of 8 GP's.

Yeah, we are having quite a cold snap right now up here. That probably would help changing to 10W30 . I just figured with the weather on and off like it has been, maybe it wouldn't be a big factor. Man would that save the frustration factor haha.

 

I believe the reccommended kind of GP is "beru" you could search in this section for this to be sure.

 

Yep, should be beru or motorcraft plugs. I know very well that spark plug company manufactured plugs don't last long.

 

That's fine, but take my advice. DO NOT buy from this guy
http://cgi.ebay.com/8-NEW-FORD-DIESEL-ENGINE-GLOW-PLUG-PART-NUM-ZD1A_W0QQitemZ180068361567QQihZ008QQcategoryZ1267Q QssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I bought a set from him, put them in, and still no start. Checked everything else I could think of that could cause the hard-starting and couldn't find anything wrong. Finally got around to testing the GPs and 7 out of 8 were bad! Contacted the guy and right off the bat he replies with an insulting email that assumes I didn't know what I was talking about. I wrote back and paitently explained everything about the situation to him and his next email was totally abusive, and showed that he had NO IDEA about how the GP systems in these trucks work. Started talking all about how the GP system in a Cummins works, and how the GP system in his Mercedes works - both of which are push-button systems, NOT computer-controlled like the IDI. Once more I patiently wrote back explaining the way the computer-controlled system for the IDI works. His next email tells me I should by a decent truck next time instead of a worn out POS - but he FINALLY admits he knows nothing about the Ford IDIs. Never-the-less, he still insisted that either there was something wrong with my truck that burned them out, or else I did something wrong to ruin them.

I disputed the charge through my credit card company, but they wanted me to return them to him (on my dime of course), fill out all this paperwork, and provide them copies of all the correspondance from him. I talked to the guy at my local Autozone and explained the whole situation to him. He agreed that they must be defective and basically exchanged them for me.

The set I got from Autozone worked perfectly from day one and have been working just fine for two, going on three months now, and the GPs were the only thing that changed. The way I have my system set up, I have a push-button switch interrupting the wire from the controller output to the GP relay control terminal. That way the controller is still operating the GPs, but it can only operate the GP relay and GPs when I hold the button down. Basically a fool-proof way to make sure that a controller malfunction can't burn up my GPs. It has been set up this way since before I got the GPs from the ebay jerk. The GP relay was new and installed at least a month before I bought the GPs from him. That is how I know 100% for sure that the GPs were bad and that my truck's GP system didn't burn them out.

I ended up not taking any further action on the dispute that I filed with the credit card company and just allowed the dispute to lapse due to my inaction. So the jerk ended up getting the money - he just had to wait about 90 days for it.

Sorry so long, but I wanted to completely explain what happened and why I recommend NOT buying anything from this one particular seller.....

 

Did you read the add in that listing Cheaper?

Goes something like:
"PLEASE do not make the mistake that these are going to cure all your diesel engine problems.... if your blowing them out from trying to start your engine that does not want to start even when your using either then save your money and fix the root problem first! Sorry, we just had a really bad experience with a customer that purchsed some of these... new old diesel truck owner thought a few glow plugs were going to make his 10 year old engine run like a new one..."

I will defnitely avoid that guy. Heck, in his feedback he criticises all of Texas because a customer had issues with his product. On another he says "there are some people god can't even please". What an errogant ***. Simply put.

Sorry for the rudeness but people like that seller I can't stand.

 

LOL!

I didn't read his ad, but yeah, I guess that would be me! Funny that he puts it that way since I specifically told him I put in a new relay BEFORE buying his plugs, and that I won't use ether on my truck! Especially funny since he says "a 10 year old truck" but these GPs won't fit any IDI less than 20 years old! (1987 and older)

He had no clue about the GP system having a computerized controller. In his first reply to my complaint he told me that I was holding the button down too long and burned them up. When I told him there is no manual control - that it is computer controlled - he said I must have been repeatedly cycling the key and burned them up. When I told him that on repeat key cycles, the computer will only turn the GPs for 1-2 seconds - to PREVENT burning them up, THEN he said I ought to buy a better truck instead of a worn out POS. I told him to educate himself about the vehicle he's selling parts for. Obviously he still hasn't bothered to do so - as evidenced by the fact that he STILL doesn't even know for sure what years of truck these are for.

I was also very surprised to see that he is still offering his "7-day money back satisfaction guarantee" - which is worthless since he won't honor it....

 

OK here are some thoughts on this.

First, for diesel fuel to auto ignite when injected the cylinder temperature has to be over 475 degrees if I am remembering right tonight.

Your engine has 21.5 to 1 compression, but that will not raise the air temp to 475 degrees in one compression stroke when the engine block is 20 degrees.
So the engineers installed glow plugs.

10 seconds of power take the glow plug from 20 degrees to white hot, that is probably close to 1000 degrees. The glow plug is in the precombustion chamber where the fuel is injected. So as soon as the glow plug light goes out, you should start cranking the engine to start it. If you wait 10 seconds, the glow plug heat is all soaked up by the cold engine block. The reason the glow plugs continue to cycle after the initial cycle is at cold temps the engine block soaks up so much heat out of the first few combustion strokes, the air temp in the cylinder is still so low that the fuel will not fire even though the engine is running on it's own power, it will stall from lack of heat to ignite the fuel. When I start my engine the thermocouple fro my pyrometer is 3" from the exhaust valve. The engine has to run for about 30 seconds before the EGT gets to 150 degrees right outside the combustion chamber. Without afterglow and a warm engine, the fuel is only partially burnt and the exhaust will appear white and have a very strong raw diesel smell to it from the unburnt fuel.

This is why the glow plug system must be operating in top notch shape to start a diesel when the temps are low. The colder it gets, the better shape it has to be in.

Glow plugs draw about 200 amps to heat them.
Starters take about 300 amps or a little more when the engine is very cold.
After all your attempts to start, your batteries were about drained.
The alternator was putting a large load on the belts.
Also the cold temps have the fluid in your fan clutch so thick that it is turning a lot more than it normally would. No it isn't locked up, but it is turning more than usual. So you have more fan noise than you are used to. This added more load to the fan belts and the engine.

Test all your glow plugs, replace the bad ones.
Start your engine as soon as the Wait to Start light goes out.
Give the truck a bit of time before you shoot it, I think it will be OK.

 

Haha! I plan on keeping this old girl a long time! Takes quite a bit for me to start pulling hair out of my head

Thanks Dave S and Cheaper for the help! Also thanks everyone for your imput! Now I have a better understanding of what the heck I'm doing. I just hope I didn't ruin too many of the plugs by starting it like I was.

-Dave