Is there a long term effect on the engine if you pull your truck in every night and then while you are at work all day?
Or any effect at all?

 

instead of 'pull', I think that you meant 'plug'. No need to have it plugged in all night. Two hours before you need the truck will work fine. Have your truck hooked up to a heavy duty timer to come on about two hours before you need it. Will it 'hurt' it. Don't think so, just use a lot of electricity.

 

It might shorten the life of the block heater (they are good for so many hours of use). I put a timer on mine.

 

Shorten the life of the block heater meaning the element right?

 

Thanks btw. I'm new to the diesels and winter. I Just replaced the block heater power cord so I have a brand new heating element still in the box, so I do have a back up.

 

The big thing about Diesels and winter starting ..... is your glow plugs..... which means you want to make sure that you Glow Plug Relay (GPR) is working correctly. Any questions on that?

 

I have done a few cold starts but the most significant one was last week. I tried to start it about 12 times before I got it to start....

Where can I find that relay? I'm sure that's cheaper than getting the plugs.

 

GPR is a about $45 for OEM from dieselorings and Motorcraft glow plugs are $10.88 a piece (you need 8) from dieselorings
if you have a good GPR but your glow plugs are shot then it still wont work properly. but you can have good plugs and bad GPR as well

 

Get yourself a plug in volt meter that plugs into the dash power port. I bought this from Wally world..


You should see the following reading if the GPR is working.
1) when plugged in you should see 12.5v

2) when you turn the key to on and the wait to start light comes on it should read 11.5v. glow plug relay is 'on'.... if the voltage does not 'drop' then you may have a problem with the relay.

3) when the 'wait to start' light goes out (and you had the voltage drop to 11.5v) if it is really cold then cycle the glow plugs again to get the chamber really hot. Now turn the key to start the truck. your voltage meter will drop to about 11v. If the meter drops below 10.5 the truck Will Not Start as you need at least 10.5v for it to start.

4) when the truck starts, the voltage should be 12.5v. When the GPR shuts off the voltage will slowly rise to 14.5v. this last number of the voltage is the output of the alternator.

5) Do you have any questions?

 

You should be able to see this with your torque app Dylan as it allows you to see the voltage

 

Thanks brother!
Great info! I'll look into it

 

I hardly use that sucker. It's hard enough keeping one phone charged let alone 2.... Haha

 

Its worth charging to see if your gpr is working lol

 

This is what it looks like when you try to start your truck in winter temps with a bad GPR. This was my previous 7.3 with a bad Glow Plug Relay. White smoke is a good hint that your glow plugs are not working, in this case, my GPR wasn't working so neither were the glow plugs. I changed the relay, and fired first time every morning. And do yourself a favor and do the GPR LED as well so you can tell when your GPR is working. Link to GPR LED mod:https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/7...wmriceman.html

 

Wow thanks!

Yea I was blowing huge amounts of white smoke....