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cold start

Old Oct 7, 2004 | 11:26 PM
  #1  
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cold start

Hello I have a 2002 7.3 powerstroke. 150 000 kms My problem is the cold start. She starts running very poor and slowly comes to life. Takes her till she is totally warmed up to run normal. No smoke wether it is at start or warm. Who has ideas for this problems.

dieselfries
 
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Old Oct 9, 2004 | 01:56 PM
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Old Oct 9, 2004 | 03:03 PM
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My truck is different than yours so I am not sure about this but there has been some talk of air in the fuel systems on some of the 6.0 motors. There is a way to bleed the air out of the fuel and route it to the return line. I think it was Quadzilla that was recently working on this but I'm not sure. If you get a chance to use the search feature the information on this was posted within the last two weeks or so. Welcome.
 
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Old Oct 9, 2004 | 03:58 PM
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Thanx for your message Will look in this and have one further question. Does the fuelpump always run when you cycle the ign key?


thaks again
 
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Old Oct 9, 2004 | 04:05 PM
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Yes, it does. Secondly, disels in general are stubborn when cold, lack of power, louder, etc. I think your condition is normal unless its taking a really long time to warm up.
 
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Old Oct 9, 2004 | 06:46 PM
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switching to synthetic oil helped my cold start up alot. before with dino when it was cold it would chug,chug,chug,chug for awhile and sometimes catch and sometimes dye. once i put in the syn it would fire right up with no chug, and that was all the way douwn to single digit temps not plugged in while hunting
 
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Old Oct 9, 2004 | 07:21 PM
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hi boerde ... is this your first diesel? it took me a while to get used to the dragging at cold start too, here in bc even in the summer it can be cold for a diesel :-)). if i think it's a pretty cold morning, i plug in the block heater for an hour (or however long i can) and it makes a big difference. the other thing i noticed with the 7.3 PSD was a regular intermittent whuuuufff noise in it's first 10km on a cold day, the noise occurred every 3-5 secs and was accompanied by a feeling like driving through two inches of slush just as it was making the whuuff. have driven a couple since then and they are all the same -- the dealer told me it was something to do with the turbo. had my 1999 for 6 years and 200,000km and it never gave me a single problem, it's a great engine.
 
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Old Oct 9, 2004 | 08:41 PM
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Thanks again. I have worked with a whole lot of diesels, and also worked on them. I came to Canada 5 years ago as a diesel mechanic. The problem is that I know all about European and Japanese diesels. They built the diesel different there. An engine of 7.3 litre will power there an entire full size semi truck(450hp). Engines go there for about 600 000 kms without rebuilding. Fuel efficiency is a way better there too. Important thing with fuel prices twice as high there. Also the engines are more simple in the setup. No hydraulic injectors and so on. A European diesel like Deutz starts below 20 degrees celcius without problem without glowplugs, does not have those things even.

Back to my Ford. I think it has to do with no fuel as it starts. May be air in fuel. May be fuel pump. When I turn the ignition on I hear a short sound of a running pumplike device. Nothing else exept for some relays is moving. Am I supposed to hear something like a low pressure fuelpump too?

Again the symtoms are: Starts heavy. No white smoke, so no glowplug failure. Runs on considerably less than 8 cilinders for the first 2 kilometers. No power, no smoke, rough sound. Does so at about 10 degrees Celcius

Someone with the same problems?

Thanks again for the info, I am happy to be a (new) member of the family.
 
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Old Oct 11, 2004 | 08:08 PM
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I have a 2000 PSD and have the same systoms. WHen it sits over night and temp is below 55 it may start may not but no wite smoke and it shakes like crazy till it wams up. I change all the glowplugs and relay no help. I put a scanner on it and found no codes. If I plug in the heater after an hour it will start. Also with the scanner I checked all the sensors for proper readings for air temp oil temp both were good. Definitely no smoke no fuel. I would check fuel pressure. Good Luck if I fix mine I'll let you know,
 
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Old Oct 11, 2004 | 08:09 PM
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Same here have you tried plugging in the block heater
 
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Old Oct 11, 2004 | 08:55 PM
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You shouldn't need a block heater yet, they start just fine until well below freezing when everything is working right. Boerde the PSD uses engine oil at very high pressure to drive the injectors. I suspect the engine needs an oil change to synthetic. As you know dino oil gets pretty thick at colder tempuratures. The injectors need good flowing oil to do thier job. I personally use Mobil 1 Delvac 5-40.
 
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Old Oct 16, 2004 | 03:08 PM
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Unhappy coldstart

Originally Posted by mr_fixit
I have a 2000 PSD and have the same systoms. WHen it sits over night and temp is below 55 it may start may not but no wite smoke and it shakes like crazy till it wams up. I change all the glowplugs and relay no help. I put a scanner on it and found no codes. If I plug in the heater after an hour it will start. Also with the scanner I checked all the sensors for proper readings for air temp oil temp both were good. Definitely no smoke no fuel. I would check fuel pressure. Good Luck if I fix mine I'll let you know,
Hey Fixit,

This morning (60 degr. F) I started my diesel and same story again. Rough idling, even no reaction to the accelerator. I shut her down and started her up again right away. Problem solved, ran ok. Does that help us thinking the right direction? Do you have the same experience?
Let me know.

boerde
 
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Old Oct 17, 2004 | 02:20 PM
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Well usaully when it won't start it does not matter how mant times I crank it. but I do know if it runs like crap when it does start, I let it run for a couple of minutes and then start it later after it sits it runs good. I won't have time to put a pressure gauge on till the weekend.
 

Last edited by mr_fixit; Oct 17, 2004 at 02:24 PM.
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