Hi, I think I'm at the right place. Anyway, my husband has a '90 F250 7.3L Diesel, and he's having problems getting it to start in the mornings. It's cold, but I can get the other truck, a '79 F250 5.0L Gas, to start just fine. I know that the batteries are good, but after cranking on the starter for a short time, the batteries are dead and need to be recharged. Does anyone have a suggestion for me to try?

 

Moved to proper forum.

 

I know you said the batteries are good but you still may want to get a load tester and test your batteries, unless your batteries are at full capacity they will poop out fairly fast trying to turn these high compressions engines over. That is about the only other thing I can think of. I am sure there will be a ton more responses from the other fellers. Scotty

 

If you are sure the batteries are good and all the connections are clean, then it might be the starter. I had this same thing happen to me. Batteries were new,glow plugs were fine and no air leaks in the fuel system;yet the engine would crank for 6-8 seconds then stop and it SEEMED as if the batteries were dead when in fact it was a bad starter. New starter and the truck fires up immediately. Good luck

 

sounds to me you have a glowplug problem

 

If your starter was bad, you'd be able to hear it. I'd check battery, connections, have someone test the alternator, then glow plugs, then fuel delivery.

 

How can you tell if it's a glow plug problem, and how do you test the fuel delivery?