I've checked a bunch of forums, and it seems the wait to start light should stay on for 10 seconds on a cold start.

Mine is staying on 16-17 seconds with 8 new ZD9s, no block heater, 29*F. Is this too long? Its worrying me... I've only run them ONCE (the first start with them after install). Before new plugs (I had 1 bad), it would run about 7-8 seconds.

YouTube - Cold Start after new Glow plugs

Is that time lengh gonna hurt anything?

Thanks in advance.

 

That does seem like a long time. I wander if your controller is messing up.

 

You'll know in a couple more starts, because your hard starting will return.

 

Check the ground wire connection on the controller.
Usually under one of the controller mounting bolts.

 

You can also watch the battery gauge to see what your actual glow time is. That solenoid should close as soon as you turn the ignition on, but once it kicks out, you should see your volt gauge rise back up. Its very easy to tell when its dark out and you have your parking lights on, at least it is in my truck. Everything will dim, and my voltage drops to round 9-10 volts.

I was also a little surprised by the cranking time if you did indeed get a glow time that long.

By the way, I'm curious to know what kind of camera did you use to record that video?

 

Thats true, the crank time was a little long... I'm about to go see if the glow plugs still work, or if they burnt out (I'm going to kill the controller if it killed my new glow plugs!!!!). It was still WAAAAYYYY faster than it did before though.

Camera is an old (its like 3 years old now) Canon A540 Powershot... been through a lot of shiz lol. Taken it on the dirt bike a lot... just lots of abuse haha. Good camera.

 

Do you have any idea how old the other set of GP's were? I'm guess is that your controller is the culprit. Your new set of GP's should be fine cause I really don't think you got a full 20 second glow time like the "WTS" light indicated. If it keeps giving you trouble, put in a manual switch..... Long as you can count to 10 or 12, your shouldn't have any more issues.

I'm a canon fan myself.. that thing shoots pretty good videos!

 

The old plugs were probably original besides the 2 autolites... they were AT LEAST 5 years old.

It is in fact doing 20 second glows... I tested with an old Autolite plug OUTSIDE the motor so I could see it glow, and it took a full 12 seconds to START to glow (controller ran for about 20 seconds, got the gp nice and cherry, did not fry plug)! To confirm I pluged that wire back into its respective gp and cranked after about 12 seconds - no start (didnt wait for light to go out). Did it again a few minutes later, but waited for the light to go out, was about an 18 second glow - truck started albiet not as well as I had hoped (wasn't a long crank, but about 3 seconds). Smoke and a misfire for a minute.

Note that the plug I tested outside the motor would get to cherry in under 7 seconds when ONLY running 1 gp off another battery. I tested 2 gps at once off the same battery, and it took a few more seconds. I tried a full 16 second run to see if they would fry too, they did not, but its god awful close to the failure point! Note that all test plugs were Autolites for those runs. I did do a test with a single Beru, and it lasted a few seconds longer. All these plugs I tested with are at least a few years old.

Now I thought it had fried a gp, so I tested every one and continuity back to the controller on every wire. All good. Why does one cylinder not fire???

As another note, every once and a while the gp controller WINES while its running....??? I'm thinking I should replace it at this point... unless thats normal. lol

 

maybe compression is a little bit less on that cylinder, or the injector is not functioning properly

 

Kinda random question, but I noticed your belts aren't setup the same as mine? You have one from the crank pulley doing to the alt. and then from the alt. to the vacuum pump?

Both alt. and vacuum pump on mine are driven by 2 different belts driven by the crank. But you got A/C so I guess that's why there setup differently?

 

that is just about rite for new glowplugs at 30º
if your glow plug light is only cycling 10 seconds, you have a bad plug. proper WTS time with a good system is between 15 and 20 seconds.

 

Nice to know about the initial startup times.

I have no idea if it matters, but on our 85 we installed the manual switch with all new motocraft plugs, due to the controller issue. I have read enough on this forum to know I do not want to deal with that issue.

I am a little paranoid about the whole thing, but its 30 here in the am and late night and I can go out and start the truck up within a few seconds, after hitting the glowplug button for 7-10 seconds.

Then with the high idle engaged it seems to rev away for a few minutes then come down on its own.

So would it be best to just go with the flow as far as what I see, or just hit that button for 15 seconds reguardless?

 

if 7 seconds works for you with the manual switch, go with it.

i am talking about the new style controller used in the 88 and newer trucks giving a WTS light of 15-20 seconds.
i personally have seen WTS times of 25+ seconds with my 88 when it is under 0º out and the truck is not plugged in.

 

If it starts up fine with 7-10 secs of glow then no need to hold it for longer.