i own a 1992 f 250 with 7.3 idi, balanced crank , upgraded pistons, different cam to help low-end power, also has the hypermax aftermarket turbo and intercoolers and the fuel turn up for maximum black smoke but if the truck sits it will not start or starts rough with alot of chatter, this is the first diesel that i have owned and i do not know where to start, some one on this site says that the injector return lines may be leaking alowing air in the system, sounds good to me but unshure how to tackle the problem thanks for all help and i hope i have found the right forum

 

first take a test light and hook it to the pos. side of your battery and pulle the connector off the glow plug and touch the glow plug with the other end if it lights up that glow plug is good.then i would get your injectors checked out it could cause a loud chatter if you have a dead cylinder.or your not getting sufficient fuel.after it warms up does it still chatter?

 

tylerj541,
Welcome to FTE and the IDI diesel forum.
Yes you have found the right place for your engine.

The injector return lines leaking air is a good posibility.
Dead glow plugs is another good possibility.

Diesels are noisey, and when the timing is advanced at cold start, they do rattle a lot.

Question 1,
When you turn the key on, how long does the wait to start light stay on for?

There will be more questions as we discover what your problem is.

 

Josh, a dead cylinder shows as a misfire, not a clatter, and will also shake the whole truck at idle. Low fuel flow will cause the engine to try to cut out, but will not clatter either.

Tyler, these engines are loud, on a quiet morning or evening I can hear mine a block away.

 

oops my bad my haynes manual says a dead cylinder will clatter like like a rod knocking.i may have read it wrong.my bad guys.

 

first note i really do not know where the glow plug is i am not a un inclined nerd but ijust do not know diesels that well. dead cylinder sounds like a good guess because i must have miss diognises chatter as a mild earth quake in the drivers seat. Ithe title is in reference to the amount of responses to my thread. i have had the glow plugs replaced recently as well as miles go and the igniter. aslo the do not start light stayes on about 15 20 seconds for inital start. i noticed if i plug it in it will fire right off but if i dont it will not, in addition if it does fire right off it still some times still quake thanks

 

From your last post, I would say that you may have 1 or 2 glow plugs not working. You say it will start right up if you plug it in. That eliminates air intrusion.

These trucks will rattle and shake a bunch when you first start them in cold weather. The colder it is the harder to start and the more they rattle and shake until the cylinder temps start to come up.

I think the start sequence is to turn on the key, push the throttle at least halfway down and then let off to set the advance, once the wait to start light goes out, start the engine. In colder weather you can cycle the key off and back on to let the glow plugs warm up the cylinder a bit more. Keep a very light foot on the throttle when driving, until the temp comes up.

You should see em shake and rattle at minus 15-20, lot of smoke too!

 

Sequence is correct, I would advise against cycling the glowplugs tho - there are 200A flowing through these things, and controller keeps them on for over 15 seconds during a cold cold start, if you cycle them a few times like that you can burn them out easy.

Also, there should be no "mild earthquake in the driver's seat", they do shake quite a bit but not THAT bad - unless the high-idle and cold advance ain't working right. Tyler, when your truck fires up, what does your tachometer read? It's supposed to idle at like 900 rpms, then drop down to under 700 after a few minutes, does yours do that?

 

even if you changed you glow plugs recently you still may have some bad ones especially if they are autolites or many others most people here run the beru glow plugs

 

You don't live too far away from me. If you want to drive down to Albany I could show you where your glow plugs are, check to see what glow plugs you have and see if any are burnt out.

I would go to MWFI and order a set (8) of their BERU/Motorcraft glow plugs. These are THE ONLY brand to use. You can get them from a Ford dealer too but you'l pay around three times as much, or more.
The glow plugs are on top of the motor, in the head on the inside, kind of in the valley of the "V". They're easy to spot as they have an electrical wire running to each one.
They are pretty east to change.
Blow or vacuum all of the crap out from around them, spray some penetrating oil aroud them and let it sit for a while.
Use a deep socket to pull them out.
Use some anti-seize on the new ones and put them in.
Be careful not to break the wires or the insulation.
If they are not BERU plugs I would replace them all.
You can check them with an ohm meter to see if they are good.

I bought a whole set for my '86, replaced them all and checked the old ones. Five of them were still good and were BERUs so I kept them for spares (luckily my '94 uses the same ones).

 

The 86 should have ZD 1A spade connector glow plugs in it.
The 94 should have ZD 9 pin connector glow plugs in it.

Granted I am running ZD 9's in mine, but that was not the way it came from the factory.

 

As far as I can tell they are stock. I ordered glowplugs for my '86 from the Ford dealer and I got the right ones. They're the ZD9s on both trucks. I've heard from others that the late '86s could have ZD9s stock. Haven't checked the build date on my truck.

 

The new style system made it's appearance in 87.

Since the 86 system is a nightmare, I bet a PO swapped it out when the original system died.

 

It's all old-style except the glow-plugs, that's why I rigged it through a solenoid, relay and fuse to a push-button.
My '94 is still stock.
If somebody swapped the glow plug wires onto this system it was a LONG time ago and I can't tell.

 

yeah i would like to meet up and learn some stuff i drove my pickup yesterday and started a little ruff it was pluged in, although to night it started just fine so maybe i am going with air intrusion. there are many small problems i would like to tackle