My buddys 2000 even when plugged in(think his plug is bad because it keeps tripping the wall plug fuse) still is hard to start. But as soon as he sprays alittle starting fluid in the air box it fires right up like nothing was wrong. What is the deal with it?

 

There won't be a deal with it if he keeps spraying starting fluid. These engines don't do well with starting flluid, bad things can happen . If he has to spray something, tell him to use WD-40. Have him check the glow plugs and the GPR. And check the heater cord.

 

Assuming its a 7.3 PSD, first thing is never ever ever use starting fluid to start it. The first thing I would do is check the Glow plug relay. You might want to post this in the 7.3psd forum there's allot of knowledge there!!
edit: Damn rick your fingers are faster than mine

 

Nor ANY diesel

 

First thing I'd check is that stupid electrical plug from the house you are plugging into. It's prob a GFI plug and the truck's block heater is popping it. Must be real cold where you are.... or maybe you have a bad extention cord. Plug it in some outlet that does NOT use the GFI plug.

 

Why not use a GFI wall outlet? Explain why it trips with a well functioning block heater.

 

Me too... I'd rather have a GFI on an extension cord running across the ground to a vehicle, than NOT.

 

BPofMD is right. I have had that experience with GFI and block heaters. The converter on my trailer trips them also. It seems they don't like a high resistive load.

 

"IF" he has a "GOOD" extention cord not using a GFI outlet is fine....Every house in my part of town was built without GFI's and it's fine! If he's trying to use use a 2conductor house lamp cord extension cord, that GFI will pop every time!

 

The only reason a GFI will pop is when it senses voltage on the ground.

If you have GFI's that pop for no reason, you most likely have a bad ground rod connect for the house electrical box (or a bunch of other things I won't go into, because they involve 220volt electric motors putting too much back onto the neutral and the neutral and ground are tied together somewhere, among other things).

It's the reason they say not to put computer surge-protector outlet strips on GFI's. The surge protector sends any spurious spikes to ground - tripping the GFI

 

gfci `s are not there to protect equipment or wiring, they protect people from electrocution, if its tripping the ground fault theres A problem somewhere. sometimes the gfci`s themselves go bad & need replaced. I would never string an extension cord long term out in the elements without A gfci.

 

the other thing that can happen is if you have moisture on the plug especially with road salt is it conducts enough electricity to trip a gfci. spray the truck plug and the extension cord ends with wd 40 to see if thats part of the problem. ether is high risk and tends to age an engine much faster than normal.check for voltage at the glow plugs and check all plugs for continuity

 

IM not an electrician but the reason your GFCI is trippen and due to the dead short the block heater is making, that is where the heat comes from, think of a soldering iron or gun, its a loop from the hot to the neutral through a special device that turns it into heat, and that is one of the special features of the GFCI, once the ground out is there it is meant to trip, the same receptacles are in the bathrooms to help from water splashes and items being dropped in the sink full of water, and yes so the user don't get a new hair dew.
but again, i ain't no electrician but that is what I have learned working maintenance at a major hatchery for three years... I hope this sheds some light and allows a lil understanding as to why you are trippen that outlet,
p.s. I can see it being said, every appliance does this what I have mentioned, that is how they utilize the electricity but how it is used is different for every tool, that is where the amp draw comes in, most have different amp draws cause of how the electricity is passed through, see the neutral is there for the electricity to flow back to the source so to speak, a drill or similar, elec flows through brushes and a long field of wire before hitting the neutral side, the longer the wire the more elec you lose, hence the repeater stations the power company puts out so many miles, there would be no way to go from a power plant around the world(large scale) and still have the same amount(voltage, watts) that you started with. so summing it up, your block heater really don't have that long field of wire which means a larger amp draw then per say the drill or something that has a motor with copper windings. sorry for such a long example, I tend to draw things out trying to make sure the other party knows what I am trying to say. so either your a lil smarter or now a lil dumber, I tried to help thats all i care about. I truly hope this helps and anybody is welcome to correct me or to elaborate

 

even without being plugged in the truck will start on the glow plugs alone. It may take a couple trys but it will start.....

I think your problem is in the preheat system, if this is not working even the block heater will not help.

check on the passanger side fender there may be a circut breaker for the glow plugs, I have seen some with and some trucks without this breaker.

Is the "wait to start" light coming on with the key?

 

Check the operation of the glow plug relay. It is located just to the left of the fuel filter on top of the engine. It looks like an old Ford starter solenoid. There should be 2 of them at that location---it's the rearward one. The relay has 4 studs--2 small and 2 large. Check the large ones--one should have power at all times--engine on or off. The other large one should have power only when the truck is cold and you turn on the key--That is the feed to the glow plugs. If you don't get power at the second stud with the engine cold and key on, more than likely the relay has gone bad. It could also be a PCM related relay control problem, but that's rare. These relays go bad all the time. You can get them from a Ford dealer or an auto parts house.


RON