Hey Guys
This Is My First Diesel And Here Is My Problem. I Have A2001 Ford F-550 With A 7.3 Turbo Di. When The Truck Is Cold It Wont Start I Checked The Glow Plug Relay And It Stays Lit For About Two Miniutes. Someone Told Me That It Was Time To Change The Glowplugs Beacuse There Is About 130,000 Miles On The Truck And They Have Probably Never Been Changed. So I Changed Them Too When I Was Changeing Them I Check To Make Sure The Wires Under The Valve Covers Had Power. All Eight Have Power. Put The Truck Back Together And Its Still The Same Thing. If I Plug The Truck In Its Fine And Will Start No Problem As Long As Its Above The Cold Line. Please Help Me I Dont Know What Else To Do.also How Do U Check If The Fuel Heater Is Working? And How Do U Check If The Air Intake Heater Is Working? And Will This Effect The Cold Start If They Dont Work? Sorry This Is So Long But I Didnt Want To Leave Anything Out.

 

Can't belive this one sat here that long. Let's see.

First off, the AIH is useless so don't worry about that. No affect on starting, I removed mine. The fuel heater is not your culprit either as it starts when plugged in so worry about that later.

Now to the matter at hand. I don't know how you tested things, but when you go to start it next time, jump the large terminals on the GPR with a screwdriver or whatever for at least 30 seconds. Then go start the truck. It should start if your batteries are good.

Now we have skipped a lot of things here such as getting a voltage raeding from GPR and batteries and how you tested the GPR and UVC connection. You have not provided any info on how it runs when it first starts. Any romping and/or heavy white smoke?

Anyway, my swag is a faulty GPR or batteries based on what you have posted, most likely GPR since it starts when plugged in. Good luck.

Edit; Ooops, and welcome to FTE.

 

If the GPR is good, then its probably your batteries. Get them load tested, but make sure you load test each one seperatly not while connected.

 

I sometimes have trouble when it's super cold. I usually try to start it, then turn the key off and cycle the glow plugs again. That usually works

 

Hey Guys Sorry I Didnt Get Back To Ya Bit This Truck Is My Repo Truck And It Does Not Go Down Long Enough To Cool. Its Been Real Cold Here But Now The Truck Wont Start At All Even Plugged In.i Think My Block Heater Is Badcuz It Wont Go Over The Cold Line Now. If Its Not In The Warm Section On The Gauge It Wont Start. When It Does Start It Romps For A Few Minutes. If Its Real Cold I Gotta Hold On The Gas Petal A Little Till It Gets Warm. And I Usually Gotta Give It A Shot Of Either To Get Any Life Out Of It. I Know Not To Use It But I Got No Choice.i Just Put Two Brand New Battries In The Truck Two Weeks Ago. Now I Have Juice On Both Side Of The Gpr Didnt Check How Many Volts Though How Many Should I Have And Whats A Uvc Connection. I Will Check The Voltage First Thing In The Mornig. And Thanks For All The Feedback U Guys Are A Life Saver.

 

NO ETHER! Use WD40 instead if you really, really have to.

Do like Tenn01PSD350 says, use a screw driver and cross out the 2 large terminals on the GPR. IF it starts you need a GPR. You may have volts on both sides of the GPR but that doesn't necessarily mean it's putting the amps needed to the GP's. The GPR will get very hot from internal acring when this happens.

 

I had similar issues and nothing fixed the problem except replacing the GPR. I put in the big Stancor unit recommended by Guzzle and I have no cold start problems at all now.

Details of this GPR can be found at http://guzzle.rbmicro.com/s_gpr.html

 

Ok I Checked The Gpr It Had About 11.5 Vots On The Constant Power Side And About 11.2 Volts On The Other. I Tried To Jump It With A Pair Of Pliers For About 30 Sec Still Nothing To Make The Truck Start. Im Getting A Little Bit Of White Smoke When I Try To Start It But Thats It. Should I Get A Gpr From Napa And Try Replacement. I Killed My Batteries By Trying To Crank It So Much. Im At My Wits End With This Anybody Got A 12 Gauge I Can Borrow Cuz Im Starting To Hate This Truck Lol.

 

Oh Yeah And The Relay Did No Get Hot When I Jumped It

 

11.5v on the input side sounds like your batteries are low on juice - especially if they are that recent! Take them into the house (Or somewhere at least somewhat warm (Above 50 degrees) and let them warm up. Once warm, throw a reasonable charge on them (10-20a), one at a time. At this point, I would also have your alternator tested, to make sure that it is not internally shorted (had that happen on a Ford Tempo - it would draw the battery dead from a full charge in 2-3 days just from sitting - the alternator stayed warm) and drawing down the batteries. If you still have problems, re-replace the GPR.

 

How does your battery cable ends look? I had starting problems this week, almost a no start, and the problem end up being the battery cable ends. It also gave me a low voltage reading at the GPR, and I just replaced the GPR so I knew that it was good.

 

Once Again I Just Wanna Say Thank You For Ur Sugestions. Im Still Haveing The Cold Start Problem.i Cut And Changed All Battery Terminals,got 2 New Batteries And Got A New Gpr From Napa (gpr 109) And I Am Still Not Starting Cold. What Else Should I Check? Also My Wait To Start Light Only Stays Lit For About 10 Seconds Or Less Why Is This? Shouldnt It Stay On Longer?like I Said Before This Is My First Diesel And I Am Sooo Lost.!! Thanks Again Guys

 

My truck would not start this morning either. -15 with wind chill. I tried with the remote start, 30 sec delay, then 20 sec max crank, then once manual, no go with some white smoke during cranking. I plugged it in and took the wife's mini van.

I am going to get some PS to ensure no gelling. I have a new GPR, original plugs with 80K mi, and haven't gotten around to getting the DMM out yet. Also running 15-40, looking to switch to 5-30. I'll keep you updated.

 

How cold is it? As for your light question,The Glow Plug (GP) light signal controls the WAIT TO START indicator light located on the instrument panel. When the light goes off, the engine is ready to be started. As a bulb check, the light comes on every time a key on reset occurs, even though the glow plug system is not commanded on. On-time normally varies between 1 and 10 seconds. WAIT TO START light on-time is independent of glow plug relay on-time because the glow plugs may stay on to improve performance until engine reaches operating temperature. The glow plug on time is dependent on oil temperature and altitude. The glow plug relay comes on between 1-120 seconds and does not come on at all if oil temperature is above 30°C (86°F) for Econoline or 55 °C (131 °F) for F-Series. All this is out of the Ford manual. Measure the amount of time the GPR stays activated when it is cold. If it is activating and then turning off right away, under 20 seconds then the engine oil temp sensor might be bad.

 

Scott,
Big difference starting with the Rotella 5w-40 syn,highly recommended. Agood dose of the PS anti gel will go along way too. Keep in mind that as your 15-40 accumulates miles on it the viscosity goes UP,from all the soot loading, and makes it even more difficult to start during temp extremes.