Never never never try to fix a fuse blowing problem by using a higher rated fuse.

 

It was a 5amp but it blows when I turn on the headlights so idk what It could be

 

Hey,

I have a 1990 F-350 7.3L with no clue how many miles (the odometer only has 5 digits, so been rolled over at least once).

I was having a problem starting on cool (not even that cold) days, unless I plugged in the block heater. I replaced the glow plugs back in April and we used this truck on average once a month to pull my wife's horse trailer. I bought a GPR111 from Napa and looking to replace it. See the pictures. But I'm noticing that the wiring is not lining up 100% and wanted to get some input before I wired it up.

Original GPR, located on passenger side behind #1 battery.


Close up on original unbolted but still wired up.



New GPR111 bolted on with ground wire connected to mounting bolt. Next to original GPR.


Another picture:



As long as the larger wires go on the larger terminals, does it matter which one?

And if you can see the issue I have with the smaller wires, the new GPR has one wire connected to each smaller terminal and the older only has 1 wire and no plastic quick connect.

Any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks,
Brooks

 

What you are showing is the starter relay. The GP relay is located on the controler which is on the rear, center of the motor, under the air cleaner.

 

That's NOT the GPR, that is one of the two starter relays.

The GPR is mounted behind the air cleaner, on top of the valley pan, with the glow plug controller.

What glow plugs did you put in when you replaced them? I'd retest them, chances are if they are anything but the Beru/Motorcraft ZD-9's, they could be burnt out already. Hopefully if that's the case none swelled enough to be a problem to get out.

 

Well damn! Murphy's Law, it can't be somewhere super easy to get to. Thanks for the heads up, sounds like I need to do some crawling around in that engine tonight.

 

@greywynd: I was warned and replaced them with Motorcraft. This was probably back in April or so and like I mentioned, the truck is pretty much used on average once a month to pull her 2-horse trailer. I'll be climbing into the engine tonight or tomorrow night.

Thanks again for the help.

Brooks

 

If you pull the air filter off, it's just behind the CDR valve under a plastic cover. (Assuming the cover is still there.) May as well pull the CDR valve and let it soak while you're changing out the relay then, it should be cleaned every couple oil changes anyway.

It's not hard to get to actually, I just find I use a high stool or something to get a couple feet off the ground to be bale to reach it easily. I've also been known to lay a couple 2x8's across the tops of my fenders to have something to lean against too though!

 

OK so I pulled off the air intake and filter and took off the plastic cover to the GPR and the current one looks like this:



&



And I it appears like the new one is about 45degrees off as far as where the terminal posts line up, but I went ahead and hooked it up, like this:









I tightened it all down, re-installed the air intake and put the key in the ignition and turned it on and the "WAIT TO START" light came on and stayed on, there was no clicking with the relay and I tried to start it and the starter was trying, but it wouldn't turn over. I figured something wasn't quite right when the WTS light didn't go off, but tried just to see if somehow it worked.

I had the light on over the engine and it never smoked and when I took the intake back off and the cover, the relay wasn't warm . . . I was hoping that I didn't fry it somehow.

Any ideas? Do the wires need to be reversed? The only thing I just noticed in the pictures is that the plastic molding that keeps the wires separated on the relay has one longer side. On original relay the white small wire was on the side that had the two smaller plastic barriers and the smaller terminal that had the longer barrier had the two red wires? I recalled reading on here that the hookups didn't matter as long as the same smaller wires went on the smaller posts and the same larger wires went on the larger posts.

If I do have to flip them, I'm pretty confident that I am going to have to cut and add wire, as the smaller red and white wires do not have any give.

Any thoughts?

 

The not turning over and the glow plugs are two totally different things. If the starter is not engaging now, there is something not right at the fender solenoid that you tried to replace this with the first round.

The two small posts on solenoids are not necessarily reversible, same with the large ones, as sometimes they have internal ground circuits going to the base, or sometimes they are totally insulated, etc.

I don't have/know the part number for the GPR, maybe someone can chime in and tell if you have the right one or not.

 

I was thinking that to buy just the glow plug relay, instead of the whole controller, that you had to ask for a pre 86 relay which is the same. At least that is the way they used to be, have they started listing the 87 up relay seperate. I agree the motor would turn over whether the gp relay is hooked up or not.

 

The GPR is from Napa GPR111 for my 1990 7.3L. Is this GPR111 the wrong GPR for the 1990?
I must have mistyped, the engine tries to turn over but it won’t start, as if the GPR is not warming up the plugs.
I am assuming that tonight, round 2, I will reverse the smaller post wires and see if that fixes it.

 

I reversed the smaller wires on the smaller posts and still have the same problem. I am completely puzzled now.

The relay is not clicking and its like when I turn the key, there is one click where something is turning on but then silence. I left it on to see if the WTS light would go off after a minute or two and listened and looked at the engine and when I went back to the ignition the WTS light was still on.

When I was hooking up the GPR the first night I did touch some wires and it clicked a bit and there was a small spark when one wire touched one of the larger posts that was hooked up, I was careful to not do it again.... did I short it out?

The lights, air, radio windows still work so there is power still, it has been sitting for about 2-3 weeks.

I could really use some help from anyone who has any ideas and preferably solutions! HA!

 

Is there 12 volts to it at all times, if so use a jumper wire and jump from the battery negative post to the white wire and see if it energizes the relay.

 

In the sticky at the top of the page, Dave has a picture showing you which wires goes where and what they do.
The ground is very important here too.