Howdy, Well, how is everyone doing? First off, let me give you some basic details here. The van i am talking about is a 2000 Ford E-350 with 7.3 liter powerstroke turbo diesel. When we purchased it, we traded a 99 Ford F-250 extended cab for it.. We needed the passenger room/ dog room in the vehicle itself! ANYWAYZ, first off we were lied to, we were told that it was the same exact engine, and it is not, the diesel van has no intercooler, and has a reduced turbo size. We pull a 34 foot long Travel trailer with it that has an empty weight of 7400 lbs! Anywayz, on to the problem! In Sept of 2002 we went to were we often go in Myrtle Beach, SC. Went out one morning to start the van, would not crank. Just sat there and cranked pouring this VILE odor out of the exhaust pipe! Oh, i forgot to mention, the van had just rolled 36,300 miles when this happened. So got it towed to Beach Ford. They knew with in a few hours what it was. THe van blew a Glow Plug control module. So at first they were like it is gonna cost almots $700 bux.. Ended up (because of extended engine warranty) only costing $100. So, the fixed it, has run great since, now has almost 43K on it. Went out on Friday to start it to go to town, noticed that the "wait to start" light was on for a REALLY long time. Like 30 seconds, and it was almost 65 degrees here on Friday! Went to crank it, just sat there and poured smoke out the exhaust, felt like deja vu! So, I know GPCM are very rare to go, especially that low of miles.. But twice in less than 10K miles?? Is this is a known problem with diesel vans? I would really appreciate any insight you have! Thanks, Josh. E-mail me at: slick385@netzero.net or hit me up on AIM at: dudeman385 or Yahoo at: ibslick16 .. oh yeah, only mod to it is, dual K & N filters (didn't get any gain from them, i think K & N are a hoax for people to buy expensive filters claiming good performance gains etc!) Anybody agree?

 

Did you change the GP's also, my 1986 6.9's controller acted funny when 4 out of 8 were shot, the wait to start light would stay on for a looooooong time it it just woul'd start, I thought it was the GPCM put it turned out to be only the GP. Check em out , it might save you some time & $$$$$$.
Magic

 

Hey, well replaced the fuel filter and plugged it in (plugged it in just for own curiosity), it started .......... Barely. Once it did start, smoked terrible out the exhaust this ripe odor.. To make a long story short! Went out another morning to start it and wouldn't start on the first 2 cranks.. ON the 3rd one it finally took, but barely ran and smoked like a big dog for a few seconds, filled the yard up with smoke again!! Everytime for the first start it would act that way, barely start and smoke badly. So then just to experiment (even though I am in VA and not in really cold tempertures) decided to plug it in a night. Went out in the morning to start it, seemed to start a lot beter.. Still smoked more than my other diesel used to on start up... Then the next day, didn't plug it in, went to start it, did the same thing, barely start and smoked.. Decided to take it to the Ford dealership and have it looked at.. Left it there last Sunday night, right under the drive up covered area in front of the entrance to the service area!! Got a call from them on Monday and the service writer said he saw what we were talking about loud and clear! He said he was sitting there cranking the van, and it was just pouring smoke.. Said he filled the service area up with smoke along wiht half the parking lot!!! THey determined it was the same thing again.. They said it was another glow plug control relay (is this the same as glow plug control module?).. So he replaced it, and this time it was covered under Ford extended diesel warranty.. Total job was only $60. My question is how come a van has lost TWO glow plug control modules in less than 12K miles!??!?! Asked them that, got the typical answer, ummmm, i dont know!! Real helpful!!! Also, why such a price difference?? How come I was charged $600 for it at one dealer, and only $60 at another Ford dealer?? Any input you have would be great!!