Glow Plugs
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New User
Joined: Jan 2008
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From: Lincoln CA
Glow Plugs
I have a 7.3l and the previous owner removed the glow plugs and replaced them with small allen plugs, My question is this do the glow plugs enter the combustion chamber or do they sit above the valves? because if they do enter the combustion chamber i would assume that having mass revoved from an area of precise CC measurement would be really bad decreasing the compression ratio...
Has anyone ever retrofitted a glowplug solution? Do you have to wire them to a controller or can you just wire them up like any other 12v application to a button in the cab like an older tractor...
Thanks for the help!
Has anyone ever retrofitted a glowplug solution? Do you have to wire them to a controller or can you just wire them up like any other 12v application to a button in the cab like an older tractor...
Thanks for the help!
Senior User
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 118
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From: Winthrop, Minnesota
Welcome to FTE Mike. Can you even get the engine to start without any glow plugs? Also can you give us any more info on the year of the 7.3L engine? If your engine is similar to my 1990 7.3L engine then the glowplugs penetrate into pre-cup cumbustion chambers and not the cylinders because these engine are Indirect Injected (IDI) where the injectors inject the fuel into the pre-cup chambers and not directly into the cylinders. A properly operating glowplug system either auto or manual control is necessary to start these enigines with the greatest ease and least amount of damage to the engines. You will need 8 ZD-9 glow plugs, and if you look around you can get them for less than $10 each. You need to look and see if the glowplug wires are still on the engine and test them to see if the still work. Others more knowlegable than I will chime in to help. Good luck. Jim
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Do you have to wire them to a controller or can you just wire them up like any other 12v application to a button in the cab like an older tractor...
Post Fiend
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 5,638
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From: Manitoba
Mike what your saying about your engine would make it almost impossible to start....
We need to see a picture of these plugs and where they are located.
We need to see a picture of these plugs and where they are located.
Last edited by PLC7.3; Jan 30, 2008 at 02:21 PM.
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New User
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From: Lincoln CA
Originally Posted by PLC7.3
Mike what your saying about your engine would make it almost impossible to start....
We need to see a picture of these plugs and where they are located.
We need to see a picture of these plugs and where they are located.
The thing sad to say has been hashed over by someone so we have nothing as far as stock wiring is concerned...
We have the 8 glow plugs now and are going to wire them to a decent starter selenoid were thinking 10 gauge wire should be enough.. does anyone know how many amps these things draw?
Thanks again guys for all the help! You are shedding light on a very dark tunnel!
Mike
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From: Lincoln CA
Originally Posted by tradergem
By the way the pre-cup chambers are in the heads. Jim
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Post Fiend
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From: Manitoba
Be advised direct power to the normal GPs is NOT a good Idea....... go to wreckers and get what you need for wiring controller etc......... If you use any GPs make sure they are Beru/Motorcraft or you could try the newer slow glow ones they may be able to be used direct......
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Tuned
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 436
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From: Southwest WA
On my 1984 F250, I installed a solid state glow plug controller retrofit kit (part No. 1809443C96, cost was $ 271 at International Harvester dealer) in January 1995.
The kit came with new everything needed such as, wiring harness, glow plugs, detailed instructions etc.
It has worked flawless, I have lost only one glowplug in 13 years of use.
The kit came with new everything needed such as, wiring harness, glow plugs, detailed instructions etc.
It has worked flawless, I have lost only one glowplug in 13 years of use.
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Joined: Dec 2007
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I recently built an entire glow plug system from scratch for my 84 F250. I ran a light battery cable (I robbed from a junked F150) to a start solenoid that was operated by a push button in the cab. From the start solenoid, I ran the same size battery cable to a fuse board with eight 30 amp fuses. I ran 10 gauge wire from each fuse in the fuse board to each glow plug. I've only had this system in place for about 3 weeks, but it has worked flawlessly so far. It started in 17F degree weather a couple days ago without the use of the block head heater!
A couple notes...
I never plan to fire the glow plugs more than 10 seconds at a time.
It's pretty cold here right now, but if the temp is warmer than about 40F outside it seems to only take about 6-7 seconds for the glow plugs to provide sufficient heat to start.
Finally, I originally had autolite plugs in the pickup before I realized they were junk. They burned out almost immediately and swelled to the point they were difficult to remove. The Beru/Motorcraft plugs have been much better thus far.
A couple notes...
I never plan to fire the glow plugs more than 10 seconds at a time.
It's pretty cold here right now, but if the temp is warmer than about 40F outside it seems to only take about 6-7 seconds for the glow plugs to provide sufficient heat to start.
Finally, I originally had autolite plugs in the pickup before I realized they were junk. They burned out almost immediately and swelled to the point they were difficult to remove. The Beru/Motorcraft plugs have been much better thus far.
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From: Lincoln CA
Originally Posted by buck20
I had autolite plugs in the pickup before I realized they were junk. They burned out almost immediately and swelled to the point they were difficult to remove. The Beru/Motorcraft plugs have been much better thus far.
Senior User
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 118
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From: Winthrop, Minnesota
Champion Glow Plugs
The first time I had to replace the glow plugs on my truck I found the PO had a mix of champion and autolite glow plugs in the motor. Two of the autolites had burned out tips and the rest of the plugs including the champions had swollen tips that made it almost impossible to remove them. Beware! I followed the advice of the more knowlegable members here and replaced the old glow plugs with Motorcraft/Beru ZD-9 glow plugs and have had no problems anymore starting my truck. Good luck. Jim
