hey all....3 things i could use help with (1) my 86 f350 6.9 was getting harder and harder to start..finially i couldnt get it to start at all...after cranking and recharging the batteries all day....it started and alot of grey/white smoke came out..then cleared up. i just had a new injector pump and new injectors put in. and the glow plugs have about 50-80 starts. i pulled out the plugs and they are covered in carbon. not sure how long glow plugs are supposed to last..or why all the carbon and are the plugs the reason for no start??? starts fine once its warm
second...when i plug the block heater in...the breaker in my house shuts off.... i dont know whats up with that....i dont know anything about this stuff
last of all...engin started a knocking noise from the bottom...its been there for a few weeks now and sometimes it knocks louder than other days. is it something i should be worried about?? any info would be really really apreciated
thanks Mike in NJ

 

MAke sure your glowplugs are Motorcraft/beru and NOT Autolite or Champions. I dont care what the little punk says at the auto parts, Autolite and Motorcraft ARE NOT THE SAME.

GP light should stay on from 10 to 20 seconds, shorter when hot, longer when cold. My good Motorcraft gp's did not have black soot on them, that makes me think that your are not firing.

And do not use ether, that will make things worse.

2 things you can do, fairly quick. Check each gp for power, I used a test light and stuck it in the gp tap in the wire harness at each GP. Roll the key and look for the light. Again, it should stay on for 10-20 seconds. #2, test each gp for resistance. Take a ohm meter and ground one lead and hold the other on the top on the gp, all the gp's should read about the same, if not exactly the same. Check all the gp's at the same temp, i.e. dont check 4 of the hot and 4 of the cold.

I had the same problem you are having and it seems that everything on my truck was bad or worn out, but its mostly fixed now.

 

Mikey, to check the glow plugs,
Get an automotive test light.
Put the ground clip on the positive battery terminal.
Remove the connector on the glow plug.
Touch the tip of the tester to the connector on the glow plug.
If the light lights, the glow plug is good.
If it does not light, get a new Motorcraft plug.
Repeat this process for all the glow plugs.

The 86 6.9 had the old style glow plug controller on it.
This is a bad thing, kinda.
When it was working right it was great because it has a temp sensor in the coolant in the back of the passenger side head.
When it went on the blink, it is a nightmare.

The controller is about 150 dollars, but the bad thing is it will probably break off when you try to remove it. If it does, you have to pull the head to fix it.

I converted mine to a manual glow plug system when it went out.
The relay for the glow plugs is on the passenger side inner fender right behind the battery. It is not the one up on the side, it is down on the flat.
It has a purple and black wire on one of the small terminals and a black wire on the other small terminal.
The purple and black wire is what you need to remove.
Then go inside the truck.
Find a switched power fuse and attach a wire to it, run the wire to a push button and install it on one terminal. On the other terminal attach a wire that you run out to the solenoid and attach it where the purple and black wire was. Now turn the key to ON, push the push button and hold it for 10 seconds, let off and turn the key to start. It should fire right up.
The nice thing is when the engine is warm, you do not have to cycle the glow plugs at all, just start the engine. This saves the glow plugs for when you need them.

As far as blowing the circuit breaker when you plug the block heater in, they do take a lot of electricity. Block heaters come in several different wattages. I have had anywhere from 750 to 1500 watts in the several that I have had over the years. The 1500 watt ones need a big extension cord to run, and it can not be very long. A 12 AWG wire size extension cord is only good for 25 feet, and a 15 amp breaker will not run it.

 

Just a quick note on the breaker tripping. The block heater on that one I think it 750 watts. Is it blowing the breaker quickly? or is it taking some time to trip. if it's going quickly check the cord in the truck for a short. It will pull off the block heater and you can look for bare spots or broken wires. if its good the heater in the block probibly has shorted. Drain the coolant and there should be a screw in the middle on the heater you can unscrew and it will come out of the block and replace with a new one.. the Glow pluge are AC # 8G for that truck and also runs off the alternator to tell that the truck is running. You should hear the relay on the passenger side turn on and off for a few minuits and then go off after that. If it keeps going on and off when the enging is warm there is a problem with the glow plug systen detecting that the alternator is charging. This is a precup engine and it need the glow plugs to start and will carbon up the tips when they are not working right as they will glow red in about 6-10 seconds and if on longer then that they will burn out quickly and usally drop the tip off.

 

study up on glowplugs. Some burn up quick and break off, and some are really good and wont break up so easy. I followed this close and found that the OEM Motorcraft/Beru is what you want, these will handle plenty of extended run time and not screw you over. This is one part that you dont want to skimp on, unless you like to pull heads and change motors.

Remember, just because a company can make a part, that does not mean that is a GOOD part. There is a lot of crap out there and you need to make sure you put the best made part in your truck, after all, you got the best truck....

 

The only way to know the wattage of the heater is to have seen the box it came out of. No way an 86 truck still has the original block heater in it.

I would not use AC glow plugs in my lawn mower, and you do not have to pull the engine to get a head off my lawn mower.

 

thanks for all the info...i replaced the plugs with motorcraft....got them right from the dealer...cause the 4 auto part stores said motorcraft and autolite are no different at all.also i bypassed the glow plug relay to a push button..cause i noticed a few times the glow plug light was comeing on while driving.. even though it is a new relay...it can still stick on?? as far as tripping the breaker....as soon as i plug it in....the breaker trips. just wondering about how much a block heater is?? thanks again all!!!
mike in nj

 

Check the block heater power cord for cuts or nicks. Since the breaker trips immediatly, it sounds to me like a dead short. If the cord is good, then the element must be shorted out to ground. If it were me and the truck was in nice shape, I would order a new heater from the dealer. Otherwise, the local autoparts works well for me. Another option, and sometimes much cheaper is the tractor dealer. A 7.3 is a 7.3 (for most parts, not all), get a price in a block heater from the Case-IH dealer for a 7.3 international.