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Hi y'all, just wanted to make my first post and introduce my pickup. As of 3/19/16 I am now a ford owner. Used to be die hard Chevy until my dads duramax, but that's another topic. Anyways my trucks a 1988 f250 xlt lariat. 7.3 idi with 145k miles. Motor was rebuilt at 100k due to cavitation, and new injection pump not to long after. Truck is a reconditioned title, but they did good work. Truck was sitting since 2012 and wasn't a daily driver for 5 years before that. I am the third owner and personally know the guy that had it rebuilt. So far I've put a new set of battery's, 2 glow plugs, a fuel return kit updated to late 7.3 style. Still have an issue of long crank time after sitting over night but when starts runs fine. I think I'm losing prime from filter head return line. Fitting is for 3/16 and I've put 1/4 hose on it with hose clamp. Anyways more to come thanks!
welcome to FTE.
what type glow plugs did you put in?
for the hard cold start, did you put new o-rings and caps on the injectors when you replaced the return lines?
if not, you most likely have air intrusion through the caps and o-rings.
another thing to try is eliminate the line from the front injector to the fuel filter head.
this was a TSB issued by ford back around 1990 to help with air intrusion. there is a check valve in the filter head where that line goes in, and it deteriorates and lets air into the filter letting the filter drain back to the fuel tank.
this will cause the truck to start, run for a second or so and then die, and long crank before refiring.
The truck i just picked up a week ago for parts was having air intrusion issues and wouldnt start. I got it running fine on a diesel can with electric pump, then ran a rubber line all the way to the front tank connection at the fuel sender. I found there was still air intrusion with the electric pump bypassing everything even with a full tank. After carefully checking around the sending unit i found a pin hole in the elbow leaving the sender, i could only hear it every 10 seconds maybe and without an eletric pump constantly pulling vacuum i would have never found it. I quick steeled it and its run perfect since then. Just something worth checking though it sounds like you're having a drain back issue more so than a supply.
Definitely block off the return line from the filter head. That thing is nothing but headache!
Just need a 1/8 NPT plug.
Also, feel free to adjust return line routing all you want -- It's at pretty much 0 psi, so you don't need to worry too much. For example, I removed the stock metal line and tee at the back of the engine, and routed both banks forwards to a tee at the front of the engine where everything is much easier to get to.
Definitely block off the return line from the filter head. That thing is nothing but headache!
Just need a 1/8 NPT plug.
Also, feel free to adjust return line routing all you want -- It's at pretty much 0 psi, so you don't need to worry too much. For example, I removed the stock metal line and tee at the back of the engine, and routed both banks forwards to a tee at the front of the engine where everything is much easier to get to.
How does the filter bleed air then? It's highest point
How does the filter bleed air then? It's highest point
You don't need to bleed the air. The IP has it's own built in air bleed assembly(search for "vent wire assembly") to do this.
As someone who has A, blocked this off and B, regularly runs one tank dry before switching over to the other(resulting in /lots/ of air in the system that must be run through), it works just fine with that blocked.
welcome to FTE.
what type glow plugs did you put in?
for the hard cold start, did you put new o-rings and caps on the injectors when you replaced the return lines?
if not, you most likely have air intrusion through the caps and o-rings.
another thing to try is eliminate the line from the front injector to the fuel filter head.
this was a TSB issued by ford back around 1990 to help with air intrusion. there is a check valve in the filter head where that line goes in, and it deteriorates and lets air into the filter letting the filter drain back to the fuel tank.
this will cause the truck to start, run for a second or so and then die, and long crank before refiring.
Motor craft, they hard to come by, it had AC delco an autolites and they both were swelled but I got them to work out. Mine doesn't start then die, it just takes around 4-5 seconds of cranking to fire then run
that fitting was not to bleed air out of the filter, it was to return a portion of the unused fuel back into the filter.
It's at the filter head at the highest point, i'm willing to bed the design was to purge any air from the system with a constant returning stream. Heres a post i made on Oil Burners and many said it's required so i added one to my setup before IP.
The truck i just picked up a week ago for parts was having air intrusion issues and wouldnt start. I got it running fine on a diesel can with electric pump, then ran a rubber line all the way to the front tank connection at the fuel sender. I found there was still air intrusion with the electric pump bypassing everything even with a full tank. After carefully checking around the sending unit i found a pin hole in the elbow leaving the sender, i could only hear it every 10 seconds maybe and without an eletric pump constantly pulling vacuum i would have never found it. I quick steeled it and its run perfect since then. Just something worth checking though it sounds like you're having a drain back issue more so than a supply.
That's what I'm thinking because once it starts it runs fine, it's not like air intrusion, there's just no fuel up there. Anyone know how to test if system is still pressured after sitting over night?
There are duck bill check valves on your return lines in your tank, if these have fallen off or failed i would think if the tank were low it would allow the fuel in the line to drain out. Fill the tank all the way up and see if the issue exists. This would submerge the fuel return line and the liquid will act as a check valve.
Here is a picture of one when i installed a 38 gallon rear tank, they are normally just pushed onto the metal line of the sender i had to extend my pic up, but i hose clamped both on so they cant fall off
There are duck bill check valves on your return lines in your tank, if these have fallen off or failed i would think if the tank were low it would allow the fuel in the line to drain out. Fill the tank all the way up and see if the issue exists. This would submerge the fuel return line and the liquid will act as a check valve.
I'll try that next week, I get to the title office Thursday so then I can drive it and get fuel. It's got a half a tank or less in it
club !! 
