hear you on the snow. everytime I get something apart or new part to intall it snows. my van sits in an alley so if I drop anything I dont feel bad cause its dirt. just dont like laying down in wet mud and dirt working on things. the bad its at the ex's house. all this week I could have been cleaning the valley but it never got above 30 deg this week. cleaning cold metal sucks.

here is my only pic of inside the HPOP. i can get more after work. I will take the gear out so you can see farther down to explain the big hold at the bottom. hoping in helping

 

JMO here but I'd be looking at the last thing worked on, I'd pull the valve covers & make sure everything the mechanic buddy did is up to snuff...all the elect connections etc.

The other thing is Marty is up the road in Elkton, maybe give him a call & bounce some things off of him. If he can't fix a 7.3 it ain't broke lol

Marty's Diesel Performance

443-553-9234
410-398-0040

 

Jason, when you pull the VCs and check the recent work for installation and proper torquing:

Rocker arms: 20 ft lbs
Injector hold downs: 120 in-lbs

I searched and couldn't find the spec for the GPs themselves. For the purposes of this investigation, I think you're looking for "not loose", but hopefully someone with a better resource will chime in on that spec.

 

Have you tried plugging the block heater in yet? I am a big fan of trying the easy stuff first, before pulling valve covers, etc. You did the buzz test and it sounded normal so electrically the injectors are working but one thing I know for sure is weak injectors hate cold oil but can run pretty well on warm oil.

 

How many miles since your last oil change? Worn out oil can cause starting problems. Fuel filter? I would verify your fuel pressure is good. Just because you have fuel in the bowl doesn't mean the fuel pressure is good.

 

A thought. Just for the sake of saying we tried it; pull the air intake and crank it over. We haven't yet verified the truck can breathe.

 

not sure if this is relevent any more, but here are some pics looking down into the HPOP.
the pressure thing still is worrysome I think.



looking down with out the top gear


yes I know its dirty. but last week and over the weekend it didn't get above 30 deg. so am waiting for it to warm up to clean before the new HPOP

 

I was going to but didn't on Sunday. What I did do was put a torpedo heater in front of it blowing for 20-30 minutes. I am pretty sure it got warm enough to mimic the block heater. I will plug it in today for sure though.
We took out the fuel filter Sunday and tried starting it without it just to eliminate a clogged filter as a variable. Then when we tried to open the bowl, it was pressurized to the point that it was somewhat difficult to get it back open. As we loosened it, fuel sprayed out of the threads all over the place so I think we have enough fuel pressure that it shouldn't be a hinderence to at least turning over.

Did that a couple of times when we were ohming things out Rich.

The bus mechanic friend called one of the diesel guys that work for Baltimore County and that guy said that maybe the injectors lost prime, and that I should try cranking the crap out of it. I have never heard of them losing prime. Is that a possibilty on a HEUI system? He also said that the oil coming out of the inspection plug on the HPOP right after cranking shouldn't be an issue because the gear was throwing it all around. Does that sound plausible? I mean if I let it sit for a few minutes, it doesn't come out of the inspection port. It's just when the truck has been cranked within a minute or so that it has done it.

It has been a while on the oil and filter change, I will try that, it needs to be done anyway. Thank you all for the pics and ideas. I appreciate all the brainstorming. We'll get it figured out I am sure.

 

After my experience with my truck, I would want to pop the top on the HPOP and investigate to clear that from my mind.

 

I made a post the other day I'm sure most of you have seen it but my truck is doing the same exact thing and after reading this thread I really want to start pulling my hair out after everything that you have tried and no luck yet.

 

The hpop dosen't bleed pressure so fast that it won't be pressurized for a few minutes. It probably had oil pressure as what goes thur the bearing. If your glow plug system is good, and IPR isn't stuck or what, it just mit be you need injectors. They usually have problems when cold. There has been guys on here who have changed them and all was well. Hard to believe I know but thats what I have read over time. Following this and hope thats not your problem. I was lucky this year with only the relay being bad. I'm not sure how to test your IDM but if buzz test was okay I would think it to be okay.

Chet

 

Every one of us is dancing around two elephants in the room.

1. I did a search on this thread for the word "oil" and it was like popcorn kernals under the couch seat cushions - it's everywhere. I looked for the number 40 (as in oil weight) and it shows up four times (this sentence now has the fifth instance), one for a time count, one for a post number, and two copies of a phone number. Dead dinos will exhibit slow-crank-when-cold and almost-start-when-not-as-cold symptoms.
2. There is a tuner in the slot.

I vote the question about the type of oil is asked, and pending the results of that... suggesting the tuner be pulled.

*EDIT* Please see my next post.

 

"It has been a while on the oil and filter change"

Yes, please expand on that observation. How many miles are on your oil?

 

I specified the brand of tuner in my last post, so I went back to edit the post for the following reason:

The brand of tuner makes no difference. When things go quiet, get back to a known-good configuration where possible. There are those out there with too many hardware mods to run on a stock tune and they are at a disadvantage here... but a naked PCM (reprogrammed or not) is more trustworthy than an attachment.

 

When you cycle the glow plugs, what does the battery voltage drop down to? What is the battery voltage when the glow plugs are off? I can shoot up your way next week if you need it...