We woke up this morning in the Holiday Inn in Raton, NM after driving our just purchased ( Monday) '02 SD F-250 4x4 up from Texas, where we bought it. The temperature was in the teens. Ice on the truck, etc. Really cold for us tropical island people. Coldest temp we've seen in the islands in 8 years was a brief 63 deg. in Feb of 06.

Anyhow, I used what I thought was standard start procedure. Turned key to On, and waited for glow plug light to go out. The 7.3PSD turned over and started right away, but it sounded like someone dropped a crate of machine parts. I wasn't sure whether to turn it off or not, it was SO noisy. Clattering and clanking. But it was running, sounded smooth, and the noises started tapering off a little. Then the engine just quit dead. Like I turned the key off. No strange noises, nothing Just sudden silence.

I thought I was screwed. Turned the key off, back on, and waited for the plugs, then started it again. No big noises this time, and we continued our trip without further incident.

Is this common in cold weather? I'm concerned because this truck is meant to stay in Colorado with our travel trailer, and it can get pretty cold here. IS there some other starting trick or procedure I should know about?

Thanks

 

You can plug it in for a couple hours b4 starting it. Also let the glow plugs cycle for a minute or two b4 you start it. The dash lite for gp's is a dummy reminder. The gp's actually stay energized for up to 2 minutes in very cold weather. Not sure why it died like that.

 

Yeah, what Bill said. Turn the key forward and wait at least 45 seconds when it gets down below 20 and she will start a little smoother. Plugging in for 2-3 hours before starting will ease the process and she'll generate heat a little sooner too.

 

Like the other guys said, the glow plug light is an idiot light, the computer tells it to light for about ten seconds no matter what the temp. However the glow plugs will stay on for up to two minutes depending upon the temp. I think the idea is to allow ten seconds for the GPs to get hot and assist ignition and then continue to assist ignition while the engine is running and warming up. If it died right around two minutes after you started it, I'd guess it stopped when the GPs went off, below 20 is really freaking cold!

Next time, let them sit for awhile, if you wait the full two minutes and watch the battery gauge, you'll see it pop back up when the GPs turn off, cycle the key and try it again. To cut down on the noise, you might want to switch to a thinner winter oil or synthetic, say 5w-40. My truck starts and runs much better in the winter with that.

Enjoy your "new" truck and Merry Christmas!

 

Ditto, and as I learned "the hard way" this past week...make sure your oil level is topped off. The diesels don't like cold, especially THAT cold, so let it warm up before driving it.

 

couple of minutes is about how long mine runs with gelled fuel. add some anti-gell just to be sure.

 

I ran into the same thing in Flagstaff over the weekend. It ran but felt like it was only running on half the cylinders. I never had these issues with the pos 6.0 even down to -8. my glow plug lite stayed on for at least a minute too.

 

I tried y'all's advice a few times since I started this thread. And it seems to be working. We woke up to snow on the truck yesterday. I waited at least a minute after the glow lamp went out, and it started and ran smoother. Starting wasn't an issue before, just the noise and the sudden silence when it quit running. It hasn't done that again.

As for warming up, I'm not sure what to do. I read somewhere on here that idling a cold engine for long periods is bad for the engine. But others say to let it warm up before driving it. Those are contradictory opinions.

I've found that the engine heat gauge just doesn't move if I sit and idle. But if I drive around the neighborhood slowly, even if I am just creeping to the end of the street and back before going out into traffic, it warms up a lot quicker. I'm thinking of slipping piece of cardboard in front of the radiator.

I'm hesitant to change the oil. We're only going to be here two weeks, then the truck will be sitting until summer. I'd have to change it back to heavier oil after only driving it a few hundred miles over the holidays. I think I'll just try to be patient and baby it for now.

 

The first thing I usually do after buying a "new" car/truck, is change the oil and other helpful maintenance. Bought both of my PSD's off ebay, the first in Oklahoma and the second in Denver, both driven back to Philadelphia after a stop at Walmart to buy oil, filter, a 5gal change tub, and paper towels. Changed it right there in the parking lot!

 

You won't need to change back to heavier oil. You can run the 5w-40 year round. If it ever doesn't start on you....like just cranks.....you can get under the hood and jump the glow plug solenoid like you would a starter solenoid. If I would have known that a while back when I was in NM it would have saved me a headache. My solenoid had gone out so the GPs would not energize. Therefore no starty.

 

Here's a good thread to read in regards to cold starting issues: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...ky-thread.html