Are these engines suppost to take a few seconds of cranking and more than one try to start or is it just mine?
This morning it was 25F and the engine fired up after about 4 seconds when it had been setting all night. Thats great I think.
I drove it to work and it sat for 7 hours at 35F and it took two trys for it to start.
It trys to pop a couple times the first 2 or so seconds and then just cranks without hope. I let it set for 5- 10 seconds and re- cycle the plugs and it pops right off after 3 seconds of cranking.
It does this every day. Is it a plug problem or a fuel problem?
Temperature doesnt seem to matter as it did this after sitting in a garage all night at 55F.

I cant find any leaks and it has a new ip, injectors, lift pump, gp system and return lines. I dont know what else to check.

 

depends on how much ether i give mine... lol no, mine retty much always starts when the g.p's warm up good, sometimes my plugs warm up for 15-20 seconds straight, but the actual light goes off after 8 seconds... i dunno, so now i always watch my battery guage to tell when the plugs are on-off. if your plugs are still burning, and you try to crank on it, the starter will be running slower than it should so it will not start as easy. so make sure to watch the guage instead of the light. you can crank if the guage is jumping up and down, but don't start till it jums up from a STEADY low reading. mine reads like 8 volts when the lugs are on. i have also thought about putting a pto on my tranny, then build a driveshaft, and put a 5-horse, electric start honda on the other end, that way if it's really cold, or i run out of diesel, or something like that, i can just engage my pto, mash the clutch, start the trusty honda, dump the clutch, and let it crank however long it wants till it starts w/o ever burning my starter up.!! lol. then i can market and patent my idea and sell it to peoples with old ford diesels with starting problems that don't have enough money to buy new trucks and they will forever happily drive their old ford diesels till the wheels fall off, and then they will fix it and run the wheels off it again with a smile on their faces every day of the way.

 

a fuel leak will cause it to start and run for a few seconds, then die suddenly, then you have to crank ot for about 10 seconds and re-cycle the plugs to get it to fire. so it's not a fuel leak. 4 seconds is very good i think after sitting all night in 25* of course, it never hardly gets 25 down here so i can't really imagine how my truck would start in that kind of weather w/o ether, i think i would need it if it got that cold, but never been there so i dunno. i want to go to somewhere where it's like -30 or something like that and see how the ol gal fires up after sittin all night, that would probably be very interesting.either that or i would have to hook it to a gas burner and drag it down the street and back....

 

Mine starts on a fast count to 5 about 2-3 revolutions max, with GPs cycled and foot 1/2 way to floor, no second start attemps have ever been needed above 32*F. If temps are below 0*F I use Block heater (3 hour timer) with even faster results.

 

Cycle glow plugs, turn the key to start and let off, it is running. I would say less than two seconds.

 

We do not get that cold in Dallas, but when we do I have my block heater plugged in on a timer. Let the GP's cycle, look at the volt meter, not wait to start lite, turns for a few seconds fires right up. When warmer has no problem, do not have to crank for longer than a few seconds or so. Did have a problem with a leak and it had the same sysmptoms as your, when fixed, works like a charm.

 

At 10f today,not plugged in,turned key on,wait for light to go off,cranked for about 5 secs and it fired up(lots of smoke).Now it was rough,but after 15-20 secs running it smoothed out and idled perfect(no smoke).All is normal here in my opinion.At the temps your talking about it should fire up easily.Over time the starters do slow down as they wear,and it can be barley noticable.If you can count the revolutions of the engine when cranking then its too slow,you should be seeing close to 200rpm on the tach when cranking.

 

Since my engine was getting weak, I used to plug it in whenever it got below 50. I also had a manual glow plug controller (push button from AutoZone) and an electric fuel pump. Turn to start to get the pump running, push the button for an 8-count, fire up almost immediately, every time. Even without plugging it in at temps below freezing, I'd follow the same routine, and it would go thru 3 stages of idling. First is pretty rough with lots of smoke, second is a smoother idle with a little smoke, and when warm it'd just purr like a kitten. Took 5 or 10 minutes, tho...the manual GPC and electric fuel pump are almost necessities for these trucks.

 

sometimes when it's cold, right after it starts, i turn the key off then turn it right back on real quick, not long enough to let the engine die, you can really hear a difference in idle and white smoke as the glow plugs warm up again.

 

About 3 seconds of cranking regardless of the weather.
Mike
1986 6.9 4x4 manual GP switch

 

With new Bosch GP's of course!!!

 

i just installed a block heater on mine. Your talking about an electric timer at the outlet? I guess that would cut down on electric costs.

 

I have apush button switch. When using the heater I never have to touch the switch, fires right up. If it is below freezing, and no heater on, I push the button for about 6 or 8 seconds. Starts right up. Above freezing I try to start without the button. If it cranks more than 5 seconds I stop and push the button. Fires right up. But usually if it has been run in the last four hours it will start without the gps. I put in all new motorcraft gps in when I installed the push button. They should last quite a long time. I sometimes get a puff of smoke when it is cold out but it stops right away.