Git in the old girl yesterday , 1st freeze of the year, cycled the gp's cranked up for a few seconds and died? cycled them again same thing? cycled them again cranked ran ruff as heck for about 20 seconds and died! tried a couple more times and not even a hunt of fire just crank till the batteries went to low to work at all never going to fire under 10 amps, so i throw the charger on and wait a couple of hours, Plugged in the block heater also.

come back out and still the same thing, but batteries went way down fast, charger is not up to snuff! So i run them to napa to be checked out, they say the batteries are fine, i was a little frustrated last night so after a couple more ties i said screw it , put the maintainer on for the night and go have a few adult beverages!

Now today, batteries are full up, block heater has been on all night, I don't believe my block heater is working as i can feel no warmth, verified with my thermal gun!

SO i am waiting for it to warm up a little bit, and start going through the basics
for the record i can see white smoke as i am cranking
i have fuel in the fuel bowl, heater has been disconnected for years at this point
i can feel the fuel pump working so i am thinking maybe my ipr has called it quits, rebuilt it awhile back but i have a brand new one on the shelf.

Any other input would be appreciated, Need the old girl up and running , everyday driver (work truck)

 

If you're seeing smoke out of the tail pipe, then my first thought is you're getting fuel, but the glow plugs are still cold. Try jumping the two big posts on the glow plug relay with a screwdriver for 30 seconds, and then turn the key as soon as you can get to it. Better yet have a helper turn the key while you are holding the screwdriver to the relay.

 

I was just reading how to test the gp relay, gotta put my parka on just to work on the beast, just kidding sort of, my camper is blocking the morning sun , still going to wait a bit.

 

It's nearly impossible to get a Powerstroke running under 40 degrees F without glow plugs if it's stone cold from sitting all night long.
I don't know why my old VW TDI almost doesn't need a glow plug system. Same basic design, compression ratio, etc. But I almost never have to push the button that I installed to disable the computer control on that rig, the same as I did for the truck. Goes a very long way towards preserving glow plug and relay service life.

 

Just took this video, now I’m not seeing smoke from the pipe, i see nothing but bubbles going into the fuel bowl

 

I may have to something similar, never been an issue already swapped out the go relay , but now there is no smoke coming from the exhaust , and just blowing bubbles in the fuel bowl

 

How much fuel do you have

 

Just under half a tank, I did the hutch/harpoon mod already

 

How cold is it?
Did you put in any antigel additives?

 

The bubbles, are we talking cappuccino foam or bubble wand? When you did the H&H were the factory hoses between the tank and pump inlet replaced w/ regular fuel line and clamps? If so one of the clamps may have loosened and the shrinkage from the cold opened the window for a suction side leak.

 

There shouldn't be any air in the fuel entering the bowl.

 

It just barley hit freezing,, so it caught me by suprize! no need for anti gel this early in the season, and have never had to do that before

 

Bubble wandish i would have to say!

 

I agree, But it turns out that i had installed a prefilter before the fuel pump! I did not remember this! It was clogged and not letting fuel in ~! I replaced the $5.00 prefilter and she fired up like a champ!

For the record the issue is solved, thank you everyone for your Help talking me through this!
It was a simple fix, my brain got stuck on the batteries, I just knew they had gone bad and could not get past it! well untill the batteries tested out good! then i just had to dig deeper! I found i was not getting fuel to the fuel bowl, and as i was pulling the fuel pump i saw the pre filter was full of crap! Must have gotten some sediment filled fuel! Thank you whomever suggested installing that pre filter, it saved my good bosch fuel pump!

Thank you one and all! As usual you guys saved me alot of time and trouble ! Always start with the easy stuff and work it through!!

 

The cool kids put their Bosch fuel pumps in the tank so it's always got plenty to drink.