new to site looking for help. have an 02 f-350 that began to not start for me (sometimes). had to have towed to a buddies garage. he looked at it for me. (doesnt do much diesel work). of course it started for him. he hooked it up to a monitor. it didnt put out any codes. the only thing he saw was the glow plugs were drawing 0 amps. I parked it outside that night to see if it would start in the cold. it did. first time it didnt start i opened the fuel filter cap and put it back on and it started. to sum it up doesnt seem to be a cold weather problem. not sure about the 0 amp reading cause the plugs would have to glow to start in 14 degree temp. it will crank over nicely. also create alot of smoke while doing so. has been starting for me now for about a week so far but im sure my luck will run out eventually. also it seems to crank a little longer befor it starts than it used to. any ideas? thanks.

 

Eek... I got nuthin for ya, but welcome to FTE! Someone much smarter than me will be along soon with advice

 

Welcome to FTE. First, always make sure the oil is full and not past it's change interval, and the fuel and air filters are in good shape. The basic stuff really is important on these motors.

Since your buddy did not find any codes, and he checked the amps? on the glow plugs, I'll make the assumption you don't have a CA emissions truck. Grab a volt meter, and with a cold engine, and fairly cold outside temps, locate your GPR (glow plug relay). It looks like this


You'll notice it has 2 large posts, and 2 small posts. One of the large posts is covered by a rubber boot. This is the battery supply. Test this post against ground and you should see 12 volts (or close to that). If you then check the other big post, it will read 0 volts. Now go turn your key on, or have a helper do it, (not start, but where all the dash lights come on) and within 20 seconds test that 2nd post that didn't have any power to see if it now reads close to 12 volts.

If you can't get any voltage readings from the second large post, your GPR isn't sending any power to the glow plugs. If that's the case, turn the key back off, hold a screwdriver across the 2 large posts for 25 seconds (it will spark at first), then get in the truck, ignore the wait to start light, and just turn the key to start right away.

If you come back and tell us if you had voltage at both large posts when the key was first turned on (no need to do the screwdriver trick), we'll tell you how to test the glow plugs with an ohm meter. If there's no voltage on the 2nd post and the screwdriver trick works, you need a new GPR.

 

I bought a fuel filter today and will do the oil change as recommended. its about do. Ive heard conflicting responses as to the span between oil changes. ive been doing every 6,000 miles oil every 12,000 fuel filter. Is this acceptable. had trouble starting today. but started when I helped it with a little on the accelerator. but it was a rough start and smokey for a few seconds.

 

only thing I had that required mashing accelerator was ICP sensor.You can unplug and check for oil in plug.Leave it unpluged and try to start
If it starts easier it's probly whats wrong,always worth a try