my 1988 f350 still won;t start,put new motorcraft glow plugs and a new controller the wait lite comes on and goes right out but it will click for 10 or so sec but still no start and got 2 new battarys i am stuck is there a way to bypass or some kind of jumper wire I just do not know any help thanks

 

I don't know if this is the best idea in the world, but the guy I bought my 6.9 from put a regular push button 12v switch right to the exiter wire on the gp solonoid. Granted you have to know what your doing to run it, account for the ambient temp and time to heat or else you will cook your plugs. If your unlucky and do such a thing the gp's will oftin expand at the end and you will have to pull the head off to get them out. Unfortunatly the guy I got mine from didn't know what he is doing so I dont have a plug one workin on my engine right now. On a side note if you do have to do glowplugs buy botch the autolite plugs (which seem to be the only thing i can find in my area) have a life of about 6 months. Whereas the botch are indefinate on their lifespan

 

Manual control is easy.



Remove the white wire from the relay.
Attach a wire to the white wire terminal and run it into the cab and attach it to one terminal of a momentary switch that is mounted in a convient location.
Now attach another wire to the other terminal and run it to a good electrical ground.

Wiring done.

Operation.
Turn the key to on.
Press the momentary switch for 10 seconds, start the engine.

Now about the system not working right set up automatically.


Although that picture is a 6.9 truck, look for a connector like the one circled in red.
That is the engine harness plugging into the chassis harness.
On one end of the connector, you will have two large gauge yellow wires.
That is battery power to the glow plug relay.

Examine the connector for signs of overheating like melted or deformed connectors.
If it looks good, try to unplug it and inspect the connectors for corrosion.

The new style glow plug system uses resistance feedback to time the glow cycle.
So any place in the entire system that is not making a perfect connection will alter the glow times.

Last but not least, Motorcraft/Beru ZD 9 glow plugs are the only ones you want to use.

The rest are all trouble.

 

this may sound stupid but i get tired of messing with glowplugs so i am thinking about unhooking the glowplugs so they won't cycle and i'm gonna put an ether injector on it cuz the way i see it is it seems like you can always pour money into these trucks when it comes to the glowplugs. why not just buy a can of ether every now and then and then and you don't have to worry about it not starting. i figure its worth a shot.

 

Glow plugs are cheaper then motor parts!
Ever seen the results of ether.

Yup, I know, there are systems and there are factory setups, factory ether start motors are built to withstand it.

-Enjoy
fh : )_~

 

ha use ether and that'll fix that truck good my friend

 

To play devils advocate on the side of ether, the 6.9 later turned into 7.3 IDI was originaly the International Harvester powerplant to the best of my memory in this application it was built without glowplugs as an ether start engine. Glow plugs were added later when ford began to use them in their trucks, airgo the 7.3 was originaly an ether start motor. So long as your glow plugs are unpluged you should be fine. Somebody please correct me if I am wrong on this one.

 

The 7.3 GP system is the most reliable solid state system out there. Mods are not required if all the connections are right and tight and power is getting to the controller.

CDV10 click on my name and email or PM me and I will forward the test sequence for the GP controller.

 

cdv10@comcast.net thanks

 

My truck has about 140,000 miles, and looking at it seems all original and not messed with. So I think I will be correct in the following observations as I have owned my truck for 2 years now, and have had starting problems twice now.

The first time it had starting problems, I checked the glowplugs and found one bad. I thought this was the real problem since it was a autolite plug, and ordered some good ones on ebay. While I was in there I did see the famous plug was melted a little bit, and I unplugged it, it seemed ok, so I plugged it back in. Since it took awhile for the plugs to get here, I drove it some, and noticed the starting problem went away, even with just 7 good glowplugs. That made me suspicious that messing with the plug may have done something.

Installed the one glowplug, and everything has been good all winter till a week ago. Go to start, and the light will not stay on very long, and it just clicks on and off all the time. I checked the glowplugs, all are good. I then unplugged and plugged the connector back in, no help. It really was getting to where it would not start. I went ahead and cut the large wires at the connector, and used crimp ring connectors and bolted them together. Problem immediately went away.

So from my experience so far, the first thing to check is the glowplugs with a meter. If they are good, then the 2nd thing to check is the pesky connector circled in red in the picture below. I guy I know at work had the same problem with his plug also, so even if yours is good right now, I believe I would go ahead and cut the 4 large wires out. It looks like it will give you trouble eventually.

 

i'm not trying to argue with anyone but if ether is used correctly it won't hurt anything. where you run into problems is when people use 10 times more than they need to start one. for just about any engine that isn't completly wore out it takes very little to get one running. my gp's aren't working right so i am having to use ether and it takes very little and i'm talking a half a squirt from the can and its running.

 

I agree with you mac especaily on these pre cumbustion engines. People use to much and typicaly you break the rings then it becomes addicted to ether so they say

 

Something to consider is how your truck is used, and who uses it. If you use and treat it like a piece of equipment, and your the only one that uses it, or you have employees or friends that are properly trained to use it, then doing all these "procedures" to get it started I suppose will work.

My truck is still a pickup and is still a personal vehicle that sits in my driveway and could possibly be used by friends and and family at any time, without my being home. It needs to be uncomplicated and user friendly. The Ford automated system is I guess as easy as it will get, and I would like to keep it as long as possible.

The next stage of increased complication that I was considering would be the manual start switch. I would have to put it in a obvious place and put instructions somewhere on how to use it.

Can I envision my wife lifting the hood and spraying ether in the aircleaner to get it started? I don't think so. "Get piece of junk out of here!" is what would come of that.

 

I didn't know iron could have addictions.

 

All I am going to say here is you can replace glow plugs many times for what it costs to replace rings from one time of ether overdose.


Broken rings and gouged cylinder walls amounts to lots of dollars in a quick hurry.