Has anyone used the controller from oreillys or advance auto (bwd). It is $85 , the delphi and ford motorcraft is around $200.

 

i dont buy diesel parts from advanced, but bwd should be good

1986 Ford, F-250 - Glow Plugs Diesel Parts Selector

check out this one good stuff cheap

 

Cool, thanks mine is a 94, it's $59, that's even better!

 

Won't work on the '94. Completely different style.

 

I got mine from napa. I just needed the relay, but if you need the whole controller they have that too. Here's what I got (should be same style as yours):

NAPA AUTO PARTS

Here's the entire controller as a package:

NAPA AUTO PARTS

Maybe you can find it cheaper somewhere else online, but I couldn't wait around for shipping so I needed to get it locally.

 

I know you need beru glow plugs and international thermostat, I assume for the controller anything will work?

 

The thing to look out for, is that the "old" style (83-86) style is a "fail-closed" style controller. So when it fails, it fails with the contacts closed and gives full power to your glow plugs and it will take all your glow plugs with it. The "late" style (87-94) is a "fail-open" style. When it fails, it just burns out without closing any of the contacts, so your glow plugs don't burn out with it.

I can't say much about brands; the only ones I've ever seen and used for the early style was Ford. It sucked having to pay for it, too.

 

No brand experience with the newer style myself, I gave up on controllers and go manual on all my IDIs anymore.

But on the old style, when I had my '84 the store brand controller I put in it failed at right around a year, (killed all my GPs of course), so the next one I put in I got from the local International dealer. That one lasted many years and was still in service when I sold the truck.

That's just anecdotal of course, so it's just my 2 cents.

 

I have been using the BWD controller for over a year without issue. I need to replace my glow plugs right now as I have a few weak ones. I have the controller set up semi-manual right now. If the switch is on, the controller will run as normal. If I turn the switch off, the controller doesn't come on at all. This way I am not shortening the life of the plugs and controller by using them every time I start the truck, only when they are needed.