Hello everyone,
I haven't been on here for a long time. since the truck runs very well. 04 F350 6.0L 235000 miles. I live in OH. and it's has started getting pretty cold. 20'S-30'S in the day time. Even though I usually plug the truck in, there have been a couple of time that I couldn't because of where I was parked. The last time it happened I had a REALLY hard time starting the truck. I did a diag through my bully dog and also through a friend that works at a Ford garage and all of the glow plugs had a code. So I replaced not only the glow plugs but the harnesses as well..... still no good. I went on Rock auto and replaced the control unit for the Glow plugs......... still no good. So on the advice of the diesel tech at the ford garage I have returned the control unit from Rock auto and bought the factory unit and still no glow plugs. I checked all the pins and there bis power and resistance where there should be. But on the green plug pin #8 is supposed to be a ground. I have no ground there , so I spliced in to the wire and grounded it to the body. Right a way I got a code saying glow plug control module. So I disconnected it and the code no longer appears. I am honestly at a loss here. Can it be something else that I am missing? The batteries check out fine, new starter and battery cable.... the hole thing!! Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Best regards
Ed

 

 

I will try that.... again. Me and the ford guy. Tried to figure out if there was a relay some where we figured that it might me tied into the fuel heater relay. We did an on demand test and it failed. We switched around the relays to see if it was bad. We rand the t.o.d . again and it passed. We figured that that was it 3 hrs later, I went out side to start it again and checked the codes and it failed. So I bought new relays and tried again...... and It failed. Starting to wonder if it's a wiring issue. Any thoughts or opinions are greatly appreciated.

 

 

I'm going to check it again tonight. I'll let you know

 

I think its fixed

 

So I think it's sorted out. I think I had 2 different issues going on at the same time . The 1st issue was that the glow plug controller was defective. The 2nd issue was just for the argument I pulled out the glow plugs and check them all. They were all bad. So yesterday I put in a new set directly from ford. They're not cheap lol. Hopefully it's fixed. Thanks for your input

 

 

I got them on ebay.......lesson learned... nothing against ebay..... just have to watch what your buy.

 

Buying from ebay could be even worse, you could get glow plugs that are too long .... and ruin the engine. The change to the shorter glow plugs being required was in 04.

A quick search brings up MANY MANY posts on buying OEM parts fairly cheap. AutoNation White Bear Lake. No need to go to the cheap aftermarket ..........

$10.50 each for the shorter glow plug.

 

RockAuto, $9.16 with 5% discount.

MOTORCRAFT ZD13 {#4C3Z12A342AA} Info
20mm long; Type - Standard Service Plg$9.64Add to Cart

 

 

The Motorcraft / Bosch parts are SUPERIOR, period, exclamation point.............avoid aftermaket..........

 

Since my buddies works at Ford I got a little break. The took the vin and matched the parts to it.... at this point I felt better getting them from ford . All is well..... no more codes and the truck starts fine..... thank you all for your input. Merry christmas to you all