Big time cold start issues
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Lead Driver
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 7,760
Likes: 27
From: Hampton, Maryland.
Ok, I was talking with my dad about things today. The one thing he pointed out is that when we were ohming out the glow plugs by ohming the UVCH, we were getting unlimited ohms when we were using the ground in the harness. It wasn't until we used a chassis ground that we got the good readings, so we had assumed that we just weren't getting a good ground with the probe on the harness but it must have actually been that there is actually a grounding issue. Meaning there must be a wire off somewhere in the UVCH. So when I do get to pulling that valve cover, I expect that we are going to find something not plugged in. I will take pics.
Junior User
Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 55
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From: pocatello idaho
A new set of duralast gold batterys and duralast starter all from autozone fixed my cold weather issues. But if its really cold and I dont have it plugged I in takes 2 or 3 cranks to get it statted with lots of smoke. Is that normal?
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Lead Driver
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 7,760
Likes: 27
From: Hampton, Maryland.
No, if your glow plug system is working properly, and you allow them to warm the cylinders up prior to actually cranking the engine over, there should not be hardly any smoke.
Cargo Master
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 2,902
Likes: 2
From: Pasadena, Maryland
Ok, I was talking with my dad about things today. The one thing he pointed out is that when we were ohming out the glow plugs by ohming the UVCH, we were getting unlimited ohms when we were using the ground in the harness. It wasn't until we used a chassis ground that we got the good readings, so we had assumed that we just weren't getting a good ground with the probe on the harness but it must have actually been that there is actually a grounding issue. Meaning there must be a wire off somewhere in the UVCH. So when I do get to pulling that valve cover, I expect that we are going to find something not plugged in. I will take pics.
Hotshot
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 18,849
Likes: 179
From: Puget Sound
Ah... I see what happened. That center pin in the harness is not ground for the glow plugs, the engine itself is the ground... you just need a hot wire coming to the top of each GP. I can already hear the next question from here: "Well... it the center pin is not a ground, what is it?" The center pin is 115-volt injector common... the IDM provides it and a ground signal to the active injector at the right time.
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Lead Driver
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 7,760
Likes: 27
From: Hampton, Maryland.
Ah... I see what happened. That center pin in the harness is not ground for the glow plugs, the engine itself is the ground... you just need a hot wire coming to the top of each GP. I can already hear the next question from here: "Well... it the center pin is not a ground, what is it?" The center pin is 115-volt injector common... the IDM provides it and a ground signal to the active injector at the right time.
Senior User
Joined: May 2011
Posts: 454
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From: Portland, OR
Going all the way back to page 1 where we were suspecting compression issues and thinking loose hardware from recently performed work (always a good place to start). Loose GP's would cause these issues. Advise pulling VC's and ohming each GP indivudually and checking for proper torquing. Take 5 seconds and check the injector and rocker arm hold down torques too since you're right there.
If the ohms check out, plug in and check at 9 pin using position 5. If it won't ohm out at the 9 pin and does at each GP, highly suspect UVCH issue.
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Lead Driver
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 7,760
Likes: 27
From: Hampton, Maryland.
Update. Had the drivers side valve cover off today and spoke with Rich(Tugly) for an hour and 23 minutes about a lot of things. Pulled the plug on a glow plug and checked voltage. It was good. Ohmed he GP harness again with the harness unhooked. Checked the GP relay for voltage and it was good. None of the injectors were prairie doggin', etc. We have come to the conclusion, at this point that we may be dealing with tired injectors.159,500 miles is a bit early but within the realm off possibility especially with me having been doing 8,000-9,000 mile oil change intervals for the last 90,000+ miles.The truck definitely runs great once it warms up, but if it is below 35 and it hasn't been plugged in for several hours, she ain't starting. I did an oil change and that got her to start when the weather was a little warmer and that is certainly an improvement, but obviously it isn't right. I am going to change over to synthetic oil and see if it helps. If it does, that will probably confirm our theory. If not, I am at an absolute total loss as to what is going on.tomorrow I am going to start her up and data log the warm up process for about 5 minutes or so and see if Rich can glean any info from that but this is where we stand currently.
Post Fiend
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 7,426
Likes: 6
From: Sioux Falls, SD
Here is some FYI for the thread. I believe this is what Tugly and HKusp are looking into next.
Here's the link to a great writeup by Dave at Swamps Diesel Performance:
http://www.swampsdiesel.com/files/7....Diagnostic.pdf
"***This normal wear on the poppet valve will USUALLY cause the truck to run rough UNTIL
THE ENGINE OIL WARMS UP*** as the thinner/hotter (high pressure) engine oil is much less
viscous, and can sufficiently pass through the worn poppet valve..while the colder/thick oil can
not sufficiently flow through the worn valve. "
Here's the link to a great writeup by Dave at Swamps Diesel Performance:
http://www.swampsdiesel.com/files/7....Diagnostic.pdf
"***This normal wear on the poppet valve will USUALLY cause the truck to run rough UNTIL
THE ENGINE OIL WARMS UP*** as the thinner/hotter (high pressure) engine oil is much less
viscous, and can sufficiently pass through the worn poppet valve..while the colder/thick oil can
not sufficiently flow through the worn valve. "
Hotshot
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 18,849
Likes: 179
From: Puget Sound
Here is some FYI for the thread. I believe this is what Tugly and HKusp are looking into next.
Here's the link to a great writeup by Dave at Swamps Diesel Performance:
http://www.swampsdiesel.com/files/7....Diagnostic.pdf
Here's the link to a great writeup by Dave at Swamps Diesel Performance:
http://www.swampsdiesel.com/files/7....Diagnostic.pdf
- Truck dead, old dinos.
- Remove old dinos, install new dinos.
- Truck alive (barely).
- Remove dinos, use fake stuff.
- ????
There is a no-start section in the AE class, and all the criteria is there... with graphs... including the graph from this problem. The data says it should run, but now we're just down to "Is the injector getting it done, or is oil the holdup?"
