My 83 F350 6.9 sat from May till a week ago. I thought that it should have new glow plugs. During that time I had trouble starting it. The glow plugs were original and 27 years old. It had new batteries but they sat for a winter,-it would crank until the batteries wound down,-many times I put it on boost with the charger,- it would always start with a spritz of ether and then run beautifully and never quit, but broke my charger by dropping it, and eventually the new batteries went dead, especially after continually charging it to get it started. I paid my mechanic 200 dolars to put new the glow plugs in and try to charge the batteries.( He took more than 2 months to get the truck). Two weeks ago I met him at the store in our small town and gave him another 200 dollars to put new batteries in because I thought after sitting in extreme cold and repeated charging, the old(new), batteries were probably no good anymore. Last week he came and got the truck, his shop is about 800 feet from my place. I walked by and noticed that he had put 5 glow plugs in and instead of putting new batteries in - he was doggedly trying to get old ones charged up by jump starting , now the batteries are out and probably been charged in the shop. Now I have asked the forum about why my brakes gradually pooped out before and got some good advice. I am prepared to give him money for a master cylinder and booster as well but.... I am wondering,- wouldn't the logical thing to do be put the glow plugs in, a few gallons of diesel, with a touch of Howe's, new batteries, and spray it with a little ether to get it started? I have to go 2400 miles in this truck to my old home, and need to replace all fluids as well as do the troubleshoot the brakes -it ran beatifully less than a year ago although it was hard starting, it would never quit. In the past, it always did start but got harder and harder, that's why I thought the glow plugs were too worn. I am disabled, have very little money, and am prepared to give more money for the fluids and parts for the brakes as well as any labor but am beginning to grow wary of what is actually going on. If the money was -er let's say "spent elsewhere", this could account for trying to charge up the old ones when I had already paid for new ones. I am about ready to pay again for new batteries if I have to because of a possible breech in ethics. Honesty is important. I am retired a mathematician, physicist and drank heavily after having 2 strokes and late onset epilepsy, due to depression. Now sober for a long time - this is common knowledge here in this town of 80 people. Perhaps the person thinks I have book learning only and am a doddering idiot, or at least not to be taken seriously and possibly for granted. This mechanic is the only one I can go to - I live in an extremely rural location and have limited means - he knows all of this as well, that is my lack of options. What do you folks think? This wouldn't be the first time I have been a fool.

 

Buddy, I don't know what to tell you...

Try to fix it yourself, because if you do it, at least you know it's been done right... As well as you didn't get ripped off.

 

Be carefull when cranking NEVER to crank more than 20 seconds at a time.... or your starter will be next on the check list.

20 seconds cranking, 2 full minutes cool down time!

 

Well, I wouldn't want to paying again for new batteries. I am not a battery expert but I for
some reason don't think new batteries that sat outside in the winter for a year would
suddenly not be any good because of that. I mean, in normal life, batteries sit outside all the
time in vehicles, so, IMHO, give 'em a shot by charging them and see what happens. They
should have warranties if it is determined they're bad.

I don't want to sound accusatory or anything and I am in no way passing any judgements
here... If this guy is a businessman, his goal is to get your money.

However, in a town of only 80 people with him being the only mechanic, I don' t suspect
he'd be wanting to rip you off as that news will spread quickly and people will find some
other way of getting work done (my opinion).

IMHO you need to differentiate between getting the thing started and doing the brakes,
these are two wholly different tasks.

 

Thank you. I will take the initiative and walk over tomorrow. I will ask about the new batteries but offer to pay for the addtitional work to get the brakes working properly. I don't have the tools to do the master cylinder and/or the brake booster or bleed them here or the place to do it , (the winters in ND can be a horror show- 40 to 60 below happens and when the wind blows all bets are off). When I get home back east I will try to do all the work that I possibly can, myself. I am not mechanically stupid but have usually wound up lacking the right tools. But that's the past. There are a lot of things I have to learn, to do most of the work, but I would like to restore this truck. It will be a good education. Lastly, I will try to apprach the mechanic with a positive and trusting attitude, after all he is a businessman as you have pointed out. Thanks again.

 

This diesel you have has some quirks about it that not everyone knows about, even experienced mechanics. The best thing you can do is go here Pre-Power Stroke Diesel (7.3L IDI & 6.9L) - Ford Truck Enthusiasts Forums and do some research. There are also other boards on the web. What you have is a "international 6.9 idi diesel" so when searching for this engine use all or part of that description. When you are doing your searching here are some issues about your engine you need to worry about;

Glowplugs-only use Motorcraft Beru glowplugs. I bought some international glowplugs on ebay for my truck and they were also Beru plugs. Anything else won't last, and can burn out quickly and swell and get stuck in the engine. So do some research on the glowplugs and their type. If you still have the old ones and they were Beru, I would put them back in if they are good.

You have the older 6.9. So do a search on the fuel water separator. These older trucks have one on the firewall, and these leak air into the system, and most people bypass them. If they leak air, it will cause hard/no starts.

You have the older 6.9. It has the older style glowplug controller that is known to fail. Most people convert this to the newer style controller, or do what I did and convert the system to a manual pushbutton. My truck starts everytime, in the coldest weather with my manual pushbutton system.

All these diesels are old enough now, where they need the o-rings replaced on the injectors. Do a search for "o-ring kit" and "air intrusion". If you look at the injectors, you will see small rubber lines going from injector to injector. These hook to plastic caps that have o-rings underneath them that get hard and leak air.

The common theme with some of this stuff is air intrusion. This fuel system has a return line to the tank. The whole fuel system is like when you put a straw in a drink and hold your thumb over the end, and draw the straw up out of the drink. The liquid stays in the straw as long as you seal it off with your thumb. That's exactly how the fuel system works on these diesels. A small air leak, and the fuel will run back to the tank and it will start and run for a couple seconds, and then quit, because the system doesn't have any fuel in it.

 

As far as your mechanic thing goes, I can't help you there much, that's between you and him. If I were the mechanic, and you came to me and told me to put new batteries in your truck, that's what I would do, and if the other ones where good I would keep them for myself. Now if you hinted around that you "thought" it needed new batteries, but would like for the mechanic to get the truck to run again, he could have checked the batteries, found they were good, and is working on some other avenue to get it running.