Hello All,
Its good to be on board, I have a F450 Superduty stake/dump with a nice crane on it. Its a 1990 and has a 7.3 diesel. I bought the truck in 2003, im from Detroit and had to meet the guy in Chicago, i remember that winter there it was below zero the next morning when heading back home and it sitting all night, it fired right up, and always after that till now.

Heres the problem: When its cold and i go to start the truck, the glow plud light stays on for about 1-2 seconds, then turns off, and i hear the relay behind the air cleaner click 20-25 times. Then i give it 1/2 pedal gas and crank it, it take about 3-5 times of cranking this for 8-10 seconds each before it fires up with a big cloud of white smoke. After that, she purrs and runs perfectly. Reading the articles here it seems i most likely have some bad glow plugs, would this be correct?

Also: should i just replace all the g-plugs (with motorcraft as ive read) or should i check them all and only replace the bad ones? This is my 1st diesel and always having owned a gas motor, when it was time to do the spark plugs i would just do all eight. If its worth the savings ill do just the bad, but if i have to possibly do this again down the road a couple months id rather just do them all....

Appreciate the input

 

Just replace them all.

 

replace them all ,,, it keeps the system balanced.

 

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Thanks for the replies, and great to be here!
I will replace all the glow plugs......and get back and let ya know if that corrected the problem

Enjoy,
Mike

 

Be very cautious when removing the GPs if you do not know what brand they are........

This is what I recommend as a proceedure for GP R&R....remove air cleaner if IDI.
To remove/replace gp's get a 3/8" 6 point deep socket and suitable ratchet, 8" piece of gasline hose that will fit on top of gp. Remove gp electrical caps blow or brush clean each area around gp's, lossen gp with socket until it turns freely remove socket and push hose on top, turn out gp. For the one under the injector lines on drivers side you can use a universal joint (hard) or a 3/8 box end wrench then the hose as usual (do not force or bend lines) Test GP's and check tips.
If you have it put (small amount) anti sieze on threads of new gp, you can use hose to start plugs then finish with ratchet to 12 ft/lbs or 1/12th of a turn after bottoming( this is not much torque at all)
If I were you, I would remove all gp's to see what kind they are, if they are not "BERU/Motorcraft" pitch them and buy all 8 new, if they are Beru and test good re install. If some are bad get 8 new and save old ones that are good for backups.
NOTE***If any GP's are hard to remove from hole using the hose ...."STOP" call for assistance and wait for instructions.... DO NOT force the GP to turn out as tips can break off..
PS A big old blanket over the rad helps in laying on the engine.

 

Thanks PLC7.3

I'll follow those exact steps and let you know when im done.

 

Hello to ALL....
Just wanted to up-date ya on the starting problem. I changed all the glow plugs last week, everything went smoothly, i used the Beru ZD 9's. My wait to start has returned to about 8-10 seconds & i put the pedal down about 1/2 way and it cranks for about 3 seconds or so & fires right up.

Thanks for all the help!!

Mike