Hey guys how is everyone?? Some of you may remember me as the guy who had to sell his truck to pay for college tuition, which unfortunately I did.
Luckily my first year is almost over and I just happen to come across a reasonably priced 1996 F-350 Powerstroke that won’t kill me financially. I'm going home this weekend to take delivery of it and I’ll get a few picks up as soon as possible. Now is where I need the wisdom of you kind gentleman. I know that the truck has a cold start problem, which will be an issue living in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com[img] /><st1:State w:st=[/img]New Hampshire</ST1lace </st1:State>and having no access to plug in the block heater. I will most likely replace all the glow plugs and the GPR, but I wanted to know if there was an easy way to determine what specific thing could cause this issue with out tearing everything apart. I remember if you pull the harness that goes to the valve cover, there is a way to test if they are still good with a millimeter, but I’m not quite sure what to do. Any suggestions would be great, and thanks for your time!

~Robb<O</O

 

Check out the "doesn't want to start" thread.

 

The best thing you could do is remove the valve covers and replace the glow plugs. 99% of the time the glow plugs are the culprips, rarely have I replaced the very expensive GPR. Remember the valve cover gaskets have electronic sending wires in them-very expensive. Remove the glow plug boot, use a deep socket and unscrew the plug. This sounds easy but i've done several DI powerstrokes and they can be a real bear. I've had to soak them overnight in wd-40 and continuously push and pull till it popped out. Had one where the element end stayed in the head-all i pulled out was the shell. My recommendation is to check them once a month and replace them every 6 months regardless. They heat seize and get oil baked in the head and they are pretty inexpensive considaring batteries and starters from over cranking.I found Bosch to be longer lasting than Autolites. Also remove the hood so you can get right in there and pull the hell out of them. Be careful not to drop anything in the hole for obvious reasons. Don't need 200 foot pounds of torque either-snugem up good will be enough. I can't stress this enough- be careful with the small wires and disconnect both batteries first and foremost. Change your oil(15w40) and filter and your good to go. Any questions just post.

 

Welcome back Robbgt and congrats on the new ride.

An easy way to check the gpr is to jump the two large terminals with a screwdriver for 30 seconds or so. Do this at the first start in the morning on a cold day. If the gpr is the culprit, she'll fire right up and have little or no white smoke. If that doesn't do it then it's like the something downstream in the wiring, most likely the gp's themselves. Replace them with anything BUT autolites and you should be good to go.

 

Ya your right chapguy -autolites are crap.

 

Welcome back Rob....

 

wow man so weird. i just drove across country the other day and saw a truck just like your old one and i thought about you. you had the nicest psd.

anyways welcome back. and to all who dont know you this is a great guy to have around.