Long story short: Recently a member of my family left the ignition in the "on" position after trying to move my pickup.

The rest will not be short

Problem: The batts were drained and I assumed the glow plugs were nuked. Charged the batts and tried to fire it up but no go. Plugged it in for about 45 minutes and it started. So, I replaced all the plugs with International diesel glow plugs (made in germany), and yes, about four of them were truely nuked and the other four were questionable. Truck fired right up.

Persisting problem: Everything worked great for about two weeks until yesterday morning (not a cold one, maybe 40 degrees) I turned the key into the on position but the glow plug light did not come on, so I cranked on it but to know avail. Waited about a minute and the glow plug light came on but it was brief, maybe 1-2 seconds, Cranked but no go. Finally after about the third-fourth re-setting of the plug system the indicator light came on for the appropriate time span of around eight to ten seconds but the engine just cranked and cranked. This made me think it may be the water seperator, fuel filter, or both. So I replaced them both, let the truck sit for about 6 hours and went out and tried to start it. Glow plug light came on, but it did not fire, the second try it cranked and cranked but finally fired up. Got to thinking it maybe the plugs again so I plugged it in over night and it fired right up first attempt this morning.

Side note: The day before I encountered this problem I noticed that the glow plug light was cycling on and off for a few minutes after starting, wich I believe is normal but something that I rarely have seen occur. I have also seen it come on well after starting, driving down the road for a half hour or so, then it just goes off. I counted the duration of the light the other day while it was occuring and the light was never on for more than 8-10 seconds.

Could it be that the relay or whatever cycled the plugs to the point of damage?? is it just the plugs?? Or is it something Im missing entirely??

 

zswiss182,
Welcome to FTE and the IDI diesel forum.

What year is the truck?

The 87 6.9 used a new style controller, the 86 and older used the old style controller.

The systems are completely different in the way they operate.

 

Sounds like an 86 or older 6.9, thats all I have ever seen cycle after running. I would say you need a Glow Plug Timer, its a round plug on the back of the engine. That will hold them on for too long and burn them out. Leaving the ignition on under normal conditions shouldn't be a problem. Mine was doing the same thing, when I pulled it out, it was cracked.

 

Its an 85 6.9 F250 4x4...My pride and joy...I god damn love these pickups !!LoL!! Anyway, Im about to take all the plugs out and see if they look burned up. When I replaced them a couple weeks ago I noticed a cylindrical controler looking thing about 3-4 inches in hieght pluged/hooked into the rear of the block on the drivers side. Wires were running from it into the glowplug wiring. It looked fairly new, in terms that it still had some gloss and newer looking stickers on it. Im assuming this may be the timer switch?? I bought this pickup about a year ago and the guy I bought it from said he had replaced the relay controler?? is this timer the same thing or a seperate item from the glowplug relay?? Anyway, Im tearing back into it so I'll get a better look.....

 

Ok, it looks as though a couple of glow plugs got a little hot. Im not an expert on glow plugs but the tips looked ok still, however, the ones I thought looked burned had what I will call minor "pitting??" or a couple small burned holes toward the bottom of the plugs just above the tips. I popped the wire plug off the top of what I believe is that timer switch. It appears that it scews right down into the block. It would seem like that may be the problem if that indeed is the timer because I just replaced those things. Anyone know about how much that little item costs and any heads up on the procedure of replacing them??

 

The glow plug controller on the 86 engine screws into the coolant jacket at the rear of the drivers side head.

I have seen prices anywhere from 100 up to 160 for the controller.

If it looks new, it might come out OK, but some of the ones that have never been changed are likely to break off when removing them.
If it does, the head has to come off to remove the broken part.
Also if it breaks off, the coolant will probably be leaking out.

I converted mine to manual glow plugs, which work great if only you drive the truck.
Some people have no sense of time, if you tell them to hold the switch for 10 seconds then start the engine, sometimes 10 seconds turns to either 25 or 5 seconds.

 

Hey Dave thanks for the info i recently saw a posting about how to repair/replace glow plugs "busted" off at the head?, but have lost it. Also where can i get a diagram of the pushbutton type glow plug "timer",,LOL I am the only one to drive my "tank" 350,000miles dump, i'm also thinking of pulling for a rebiuld,,, did injectors and pump but busted a couple Gp's and FROZE up on trying anymore,, I'm also certain the timer is shot don't here anymore clicking ,THANKS for any info!

 

I'm with Dave. I'd get rid of that controller (Imean disconnect it and install a manual switch). If you do itright, the wait engine light still lights up when the power is put to the GPs. Before installing any new GPs, I recommend heating them up with 12volts until they turn cherry red on the tip. This will give you an idea of how fast they heat and also get rid of any moisture that crept into the alumina insulating material in the sheath. I blew 7 out of 8 GPs up before I installed them. If I'd installed them, I might have been in for a head removal to get out GPs that expanded, wedging themselves in. I would pay attention to the current draw. It should start out at somewhere around 10 Amps and go down to 4 Amps as it heats up. If the current does not go down, you do not have a temperature limliting Gp and I would not recommend anyone using a non temperature limiting GP. Some BERUs are but I don't know which ones are self limiting. I do know that autolite 1109s are as well as AC 12Gs. The terminals have to be changed, but it is easy and well worth not worrying about melting down the GPs with a heavy finger. Good Luck!

 

donlo58,
Welcome to FTE and the IDI diesel forum.

What year is your truck?

 

Hey thank you for the reply, so soon!

1986 F350,6.9,,,

 

You can bring each cyl. with a broken plug tip to TDC ( I would do it by hand since you have tips in there) and try to vacuum or blow them out through the injector OR glow plug hole but you'll be very lucky if you get it to work especially if you have three of them in there.
Otherwise you have to pull the head(s).
I wired my '86's glow plugs up through an Electric Golf Cart solenoid (similar to an old Ford starter solenoid) and fused the "trigger" wire that goes to the switch.