Am I doing something wrong here? I tested the outside pins on all 4 valve cover connections and could not get any resistance. I tried placing the negative lead on the battery, and then on a valve cover bolt, and then on a good ground. And nothing. I was using the positive lead on the millimeter to probe the outside plugs on the valve cover plugs. This is a 96.

 

Depends on what you mean by "could not get any resistance". Do you mean the meter didn't provide any reading, as if the probes weren't touching anything? That would mean infinite resistance, actually. Or do you mean the reading went to zero ohms each time? That would mean the UVC wiring or the plugs are shorted to ground.

One other possibility - what resistance range were you using on the meter? You should set it to the lowest resistance range available, since the spec. resistance is quite low (about 1.0 ohm).

 

Like its not getting any reading.

 

So i am still not sure what is going on. Tried a second time and still cant get any readings from any of the pins. Is it time to pull the valve covers. Also verified that the glow plug relay is working.

 

Touch the two probes together on the meter. It should go to zero ohms. If it doesn't, something's going on with the meter.

 

Its not the meter. Checked it like 3 times. Its also not a cheap meter.

 

Sounds like it's time to open up the valve covers.

 

Yeah. I hate to pull them unless i have to but i think its about to that point. I fear is that the old valve cover gaskets might not survive removal. But i also dont see how all 8 pins could be bad?

 

Hey, sounds like you're in my boat, lol.

 

The gaskets are made to withstand R&I of the covers, and be re-used. But agreed, it's weird how they're all reading open/infinite.

 

Valve covers are not hard to pull. Test the glow plugs directly with the valve cover off and then check the wiring harness thru the valve cover. You might as well buy a set of Motocraft/Beru glow plugs before you pull the covers. I always replace the whole side if one is bad. I tend to get around 120K out of the plugs before they start to go. Truck will start fine with one glow plug down, two or more down and it is a lot more difficult to start if engine is cold.

 

We will find out in the morning i guess. I am going to pull the valve covers on the SOB. I have to replace the transmission filter and dump the fluid one more time any way. And at some point i need to pull the ECU out and send it off to the tuners.

 

Pulled the valve cover on the passenger side. The first thing i checked was the harness and plugs. Both checked out good. Next step was the glow plugs. I pulled all 4 plugs out and tested them by placing the positive lead on the pin and the negative lead on the threads of the plug. The First two showed only .02-.03 ohms of resistance. Glow plugs 3 and 4 would not show any resistance and number 3 was clearly swollen.

 

Brand new plugs, uvch, and vc I was seeing .35 ohms of resistance at the VC plug(combines resistence of the glow plug itself, UVCH, and Valve cover pin...what is your meter set at? I just had this problem on two seperate trucks and all new glow plugs solved one(4 tested bad), and the other actually had two burnt pins in the VC, even with brand new UVCH and glow plugs it would not start in the cold till I replaced the VC.(0-20 to 20 degrees)

So even with 2 bad pins I could not get it to start at all in the cold. The fact you are still not getting a reading on two of them makes me think that they are bad, one being swollen would hint even more so. Clay has them for 88 bucks for 8..might be worth just doing all 8, I know Oreilly carries the Motorcraft ZD11 plugs as well.. DO NOT USE AUTOLITE! And I'm guessing your meter was really reading .2 and .3 ohms? I could be wrong.. just thought I'd ask

Someone else can comment as well since they will probably have better info. Went through this nightmare on my personal truck...


I might end up pulling my harness as well and see if there are repaired wires in it...I wouldn't think so but I'm not sure...my truck starts everytime but smokes like a freight train till I drive it, or let it idle for a bit... but so does every other 7.3 we have when its that cold...

 

If you've got one swollen, and they're persumably the same vintage, there's a good chance they're NOT Motorcraft/Beru ZD11s. And they're probably due for replacement.