I am having some slow starts, it is about 40 degrees in the mornings. I have a 03 and assume nothing has been replaced with 70000 miles on it. I would like to replace the glow plugs and batteries before it gets to cold. I have read all the battery posts the last couple of weeks. I thought there was a gp section in the common mods post but for some reason i don't see the common mods on the first page any more? What gps should i use, heard that some have problems breaking off? Also is there any links to "how to" articles? Any advice is appreciated. Thanks

 

Ponch,

I have a link to the hard start/gpr/glow plugs thread in my sig below.

I think fresh batteries will probably help with the starting issue.

 

I would like to replace the gpr since from what i read it isn't that much at napa. Does the gpr-109 work on my 03 powerstroke? I live in the cold wisconsin winters so i read something about the 109 being rated for shorter periods than the 110, is it ok to use the 109 in the cold winters? Where is the best place to got gps? I will get new batteries soon and hopefully this will solve any issues since it's only going to get colder and start harder. Thanks

 

I would agree with ryan, change out your batteries(expense enough) and see what happens. I also changed over to rotella t synthetic, made a big difference in cold starting.

Duncan

 

hey, if you have a Digital Multimeter or more specifically an Ohmmeter, you can test them. i do not know the exact procedure to test the GPR (i will have to ask my teacher monday), however to test the glow plugs, set the meter to Ohms, and pull the UVC connectors. i believe the outer most pins are glow plug control, however the truck i was working on was a 96, which had two plugs on each head, and it was alot easier. i will have to check the pins location when i get home from work. anyway ground the negative lead to the battery (neg of course), and probe the pin in the VG gasket for the glow plug. the resistance should be LESS than 5 ohms. .5-2 ohms is acceptable and working well. anything from 3-5 ohms means that the plug is getting weak and not working like it should.

 

How fast does the engine crank? Does it seem to crank somewhat slowly, or does it really spin over? Check the battery voltage with a DVOM first. The voltage should be right at 12.65 volt on a fully charged battery that has been setting for a while (not immediately after the engine has been shut off. Voltage of 12.45 volts indicates only a 75% charge, 12.24 volts a 50% charge and 12.06 volt only a 25% charge.

If the voltage is below 12.5 volts, put a charger on them for several hours or overnight to give them a better charge, and then let them set for several hours to see where the voltage settles at after they have been fully charged. Now try starting the truck to see if it cranks a lot better. If it does, then new batteries will probably help. My guess is that it won't crank appreciably better.

If it cranks slowly, even with proper battery voltages, I would say the the starter needs to be looked at. It's not that the starter is wore out, it's just that the mounting design for the brush plate isn't the best in the world. These are very heavy duty starters, but the ground to the starter's brush plate is made through the cast aluminum cap on the back of the starter motor, and the brush plate is held to this cap by two small phillips screws. Theses screws have o-rings on them, so they don't provide any grounding effect at all (I assume that the o-rings are designed to provide a water tite seal), and all the grounding to the brush plate is from four bosses cast into the aluminum cap. It is common for arcing to occur between the brush plate and these bosses in the cap, so over time this connection becomes worse and worse, and the starter spins slower and slower. Eventually, although it usually takes 10s of thousands of miles, this connection deteriorates to the point that the starter won't turn anymore, and then you are dead in the water.

This is the primary reason that most people are so impressed with the results of a new or rebuilt starter in their 7.3 PSDs. And a diesel starts much, much better if it spins faster.

It is easy to disassemble the starter and clean up the brush plate and bosses in the end cap. I coat the parts with dialectric grease to prevent corrosion also, and then make sure that the phillips screws that hold the brush plate are good and tite, as that is what keeps the parts tightly held together.

As stated, these are HD starters, and the brushes are impressive as compared to a starter for a gas engine. There are 4 brushes on the plate, two for ground and two for the hot side, and the leads to the brushes are about #4 or #6 copper wire. If you disassemble the starter, be careful that you don't loose the little steel ball on the front end of the armature shaft, as it will fall right out if you aren't careful.

 

That's great information MDB!

 

Ponch, if your truck is starting, but just turning over slowly, then you only need new batteries. I replaced mine close to this time last year, and with nearly the same mileage as what you have now. Don't worry about replacing the GPR, either it works or it doesn't, and right now your truck starts so it's probably working just fine. You can buy a spare to keep just in case, but don't worry about replacing it until it's necessary. Not all GPR's go bad all the time. Yours might last forever, who knows. Also on cold mornings if your truck blows more than the usuall amount of white smoke, then that's when you might have a glow plug or two going south. Those tend to last a while, and since your truck isn't very old yet, you probably don't have to worry about that for a few more years to come.

Hope this helps, I'd just hate to see you waste time and money by swapping parts out that you really don't need.

 

Thanks to everyones repleys. I will get new batteries this weekend. The truck is starting just takes longer, doesn't fire right up like i'm used to. Little white smoke on start ups but from what i've read no more than normal and it seems to be gone within a couple of seconds after starting. Thanks again

 

I have had this same problem but only when it gets cold out. I initially changed the passenger side battery and the problem seemed to go away for a couple of weeks. Now it is starting to turn over slowly again. The truck starts it just turns over slowly. It's more noticable overnight. After reading about batteries I went and got another one for the driver side. I didn't really notice a difference but i'm going to wait until tomorrow morning for the true test. If it still turns over slowly is the started going to be the next step. Like I said this is only during cold weather.
Thanks

 

Guys, is your truck only turning over slowly on the first start of the day? This is what mine has been doing. With the engine warm, it will start no problem. Replacing the GPR seemed to help quite a bit. The next thing I am going to check is the starter bolts. I have heard they tend to work themselves loose.

 

Well, I would recommend replacing both batteries at the same time. They are wired together so when one is bad, the other isn't far behind because it gets sucked down by the bad one. So you install one new one and the process repeats.

My truck was cranking slower and slower this year as it got colder. Replaced both batteries and it cranks like a champ again. 2 months so far and just like when I put them in.

 

Do you think i need to replace the 2 week old battery or should they recover and be fine?

 

mine acts like its not getting fuel when its cold with out plugging in. well see when it gets really chilly adn below Zero. with out plugging in, my truck wont start. dont make me happy

 

my batteries are not very old, and test fine. when it stops raining I will play with it a little more.

I am still thinking it might be something in the starter, cuz every now and then when I am started the truck it skips- so to speak. it does something similar to a romp but straightens out right away.