I had a cold start issue and found (after a wonderfull burning electrical smell) that the top part of my glow plug controller burnt out.

Rather than messing with jumping wires, I simply installed a new motorcraft control unit.

Now, I have no "wait to start" light and have a clicking when the key is turned on (prior to the control unit, when the truck was working, the WTS light always came on). When the contoller was bad, I had no clicking because there was NO power to the plugs (I had to plug the block heater in to get the truck started.

The original hard to start problem I thought was glow plugs, so we installed new Motorcraft plugs. So the clicking thing shouldn't be bad plugs.

Any ideas. Is there anything in the install we could have done wrong?

So, bottom line is that I have a new controller, new plugs and the truck started this morning but it had been sitting in a garage all night long. Before the replacement of these parts, even sitting in the garage overnight the truck wouldn't start unless I had it plugged into the heater.

SEE MY LAST POST FOR THE FIX

 

Sounds like everthing is fuctioning but the WTS light. The plug for that on the controller is the black single barrel plug. Check to be sure it's plugged all the way in.

 

Also you should read the post at the top of this forum page that saids "READ FIRST": Glow plugs . But here's a pic obtained from that post.

 

I don't need the picture, it was removed and re-installed.

It looks pretty plug-and-play. I am just curious if I did anything wrong in the install. I should have a solid WTS light and no heavy clicking from the controller.

 

The pic is to show you the plug for the light so you can check it.
Clicking IS normal, it's called cycling the glow plugs for the first 10 seconds or so after start-up until the engine builds a little heat.

 

just throwing in some more info from the sticky with GP help and some common sense. Did you check the continuity of the WTS light wire? how about the bulb, did you check it? What about the connections of the WTS wire? Maybe it will help, maybe not.

 

ok, i thought that the clicking was ONLY if you had a glow plug issues. That was what I was concerned about.

 

The clicking should not start as soon as the key is turned on. The afterglow cycle starts after the initial heat cycle (when the wait to start light would be on).

 

Some where it sounds like a connection is on the wrong post on the controller.

 

Well, it's a little wierd. Let the truck sit since my last post in 20 degree weather.

It started, which means I at least have power to the plugs (which I didn't before). However, as soon as the igntion is turning forward, the clicking starts.

I had a friend remove and install it, I've only rechecked the WTS light plug and it's in the way it is supposed to. I guess I pull it back off and reinstall myself to see if he did anything wrong. Maybe a bad controller out of the box???

 

Did you get the black ground wire to a good ground? Originally it was under one of the mounting bolts.

 

rechecked ground tonight. Ground is good. The clicking is WAY more than I have ever heard before. Almost 60 clicks before it finally stopped. Maybe the engine was always running in the past, and I just never heard it.

I suppose it's back to a test light to check the plugs, but that shouldn't have anything to do with why it is clicking the second I key up the ignition.

 

Are you sure you don't have a plug or two burnt out?

Short glow time or clicking as soon as the key is on usually indicates glow plugs burnt out.

 

I will be checking the glow plugs tomorrow. Just too late tonight to deal with it.

Still doesn't explain the no WTS light does it? The plugs are less than 3 months old and probably haven't seen 600 miles of driving. I just want to believe I spent the money on the motorcraft plugs for a reason.

When testing them, can I just use the test light method, or do i need to check with an ohm meter?

 

If they are that new, they should be fine.

What I would check is the continuity of the glow plug harness and shorts in the harness.

If the controller is cycling that fast, the light may not even be lighting.