My engine is quite noisy, especially at startup. It sounds like a diesel knock. How could it be fixed? Also, the first sartup in the morning is quite hard. My glow plugs fire up and it starts perfectly the rest of the day. I was wondering, could it be that the diesel leaks back in the tank after a whole night, especially around 0 C.

 

All diesels I've been around, including my 89 7.3 are very loud on a cold start (within reason). If the fuel was leaking back, the motor would most likely start and run for a few seconds then die. Followed by alot cranking to get it primed again. A common place for a leak on these motors is around the leakoff tees on the injectors (the plastic pieces that are connected by hoses). Check for wetness around all of these. Do you know if all the glow plugs are good? Test each of them with a test light clamped onto the positive of your batter. Touch the top of the glowplug with the wire unhooked. If the plug is good, the test light will burn. Also, do you run any additives in your fuel? I've had good luck with Power Service conditioner. It will make your cold starts easier and increase your mileage a bit too.

Good Luck.

 

All the plugs are good. And I did add some Gunk conditioner yesterday. This morning it did start a bit better considering it dropped to -8 C last nite. But the engine is still noisy, will the conditioner help with the diesel ping?

 

Diesel are loud when it is cold, the colder, the louder, then after a while, it should smooth off. It will also be louder for the first few miles or the first 10 minutes or so iddling.