Can someone tell me how to check a glowplug controller to see if it is good on a '03 6.0 L Powerstroke?

 

Sorry, don't know diesels, but here's the thread bump.

 

I've got an 03 also. Do you suspect a problem? What's it doing?

 

My truck seems a little hard to start than it should even in warm weather some times. I had a '96 that had very similar problems and it turned out that the glowplug controller was bad. I am trying to figure out if this might be the same thing

 

here is instructions its says for 7.3 not sure but should be similar hope it helps
sorry the pics dont show up


Copyright 2004-2007 dfuser.com, LLC. All rights reserved. Page 1 of 2
How to check for a bad Glow Plugs and Relay
(Instructions for 1999-2003 7.3L Powerstroke Diesel)
To check the Glow Plug Relay (GPR):
• Be sure the engine is cold, so that the PCM will tell the GPR to turn on. If the
engine is hot, you won’t have as much time to check.
• Locate the GPR – It’s behind the fuel filter on top of the engine, a little bit toward
the passenger side of the valley. There may be two relays there. If so, the rear
one is the GPR. It will have two fairly large wires (yellow and brown) connected
to one of the large posts.
• With your multi-meter set to DC volts, and 15 V range (if not auto-ranging), clip
the positive (red) lead to the output terminal (with yellow and brown wires
connected), and the negative (black) lead to a good ground point (like the battery
ground terminal or someplace metal directly on the engine block).
• Turn the key to ON (do not start)
• If your GPR is good, it should click, and you’ll see 11 volts or so on your meter,
then, depending on temperature, it will click off up to 2 minutes later. You should
do this a couple of times to make sure it consistently makes the connection.
• If you don’t get voltage with this test, confirm by retesting as follows.
• Remove the two small wires from the smaller two of the four GPR terminals.
• With jumper wires, apply voltage from the battery across the two small terminals.
If your voltmeter now reads voltage on the output terminal, your GPR is OK, and
your problem is in the PCM circuit that tells the GPR to activate.
PS: You should check the voltage of both large terminals on the GPR while the
glow plugs are running. If the voltage reading differs more than 1 Volt then your
relay is getting old and has some resistance in the contacts and is using up some
of the voltage that could be sent to the plugs.
Typically you will see a .3 to .5 volt difference between the two terminals.
Copyright 2004-2007 dfuser.com, LLC. All rights reserved. Page 2 of 2
To check Glow Plugs:
• Remove the electrical connector on the inboard side of valve cover at the gasket.
Press down on the top of the connector latch and pry gently with a screwdriver.
• There will be 9 pins on the valve cover gasket where you removed the connector.
The two pins furthest forward and the two pins furthest back are for your glow
plugs.
• With your multi-meter set to resistance (ohms) and low range (single digits) if not
auto-ranging, clip the negative (black) lead to a good ground point.
• Probe each of the 4 outer pins individually with the positive (red) lead, noting the
resistance. Good glow plugs will have a resistance between 0.6 and 2 ohms. If
you get infinite resistance on any glow plug, that one is either bad or the
connector under the valve cover has come loose.
GPR is to the left and barely visible in this picture
Questions: Send email to Support@dfuser.com
Visit us on the web: http://www.dfuser.com
dfuser.com, 108 Evergreen Road, Georgetown, TX 78628-9500

 

Let us know what you find!