Ok its a 99 and I know my Glow Plug Relay is shot and need to get one, cause I have forever been using starting fluid to fire it up when its cold outside. Anyhow, my main problem is that when it first starts up it runs like dog! It has no power and takes about 3 miles to warm up and then clean up. All of sudden it will just gain power and be perfectly fine out of no where. What gives?

 

You can be doing a lot of harm to your motor by using a starting fluid. Our glow plugs get white hot when energized to effectively start our trucks. When you use the starting fluid, it hits that white hot glow plug and can cause the tip of the glow plug to explode and mushroom the end. When that happens the bad glow plug can not be replaced with out removing the head.

 

Like Nick said. Starting fluid is a bad idea. If it's just a relay issue, hold a screwdriver across the 2 big posts on the GPR for about 60 seconds before you try and start the truck (no starting fluid). That will energize the glow plugs for you.

 

Do you do the screw driver trick with the key on the "on" position

PS the Starting fluid is a myth, you can only have a big issue if you do it wrong. You should always wait for the wait to start light to turn off then spray, then crank over to get it in, then cycle the key. I and many others I know have done this forever and none of us have ever had a issue.

 

The WTS lamp on our trucks go out long before the glow plugs are de-energized. You can do some serious damage.
Your choice!

 

The key position has nothing to do with the screwdriver trick. When you do this you're taking battery voltage and applying it directly to the wires leading to the glow plugs. The key can be off and in your pocket and the GP's will still get the juice (and the screwdriver might get a little hot).

Be careful with the myths. The WTS light has absolutely nothing to do with how long the glow plugs are activated. Ask any of the thousands of folks who have installed the GPR LED, or check this yourself with a volt meter after you replace your GPR with a working one. The glow plugs will stay on up to 120 seconds. The light won't stay on anywhere near that long.

 

This is very true.I have the LED on my gauges and it is interesting to watch summer and winter to see how long it is going to stay on.Another way to tell is with the cigar lighter volt meter that we have Chris.

 

So back to the main topic about all the smoke for the first couple miles. Any thoughts.

 

Test the GPR. As we were trying to point out, the light on the dash has nothing to do with the glow plugs are actually coming on.

 

To your main point. Your cylinders are cold, they are not fire efficiently, thus the white smoke (unburnt fuel). Once they heat up and start combusting corectly the truck runs fine. Glow plugs do more than you are giving them credit for.

 

Thanks MR!

 

It take three to four miles of driving before the motor starts to run well seems excessive to me. What kind of air temps are we talking about? When is the last time oil and fuel filters were changed? What kind of oil is being used? Is the oil level were it should be?
Are the batteries and starting system in good shape?
Nick

 

it sounds like to me that your EBPV is closed for engine warm up, once it opens, then your truck runs fine. this happens alot with these trucks. Ever sice i deleted my EBPV, i no longer have the problem. it is perfectly normal. Cold cylinders will not cause the truck to run like he is describing with no power.

 

Starter fluid?

 

It has been used on every 7.3 I an my buddys have had. No issues.