Last night I was 70 miles away from home. After making a stop, the vacuum pump belt blew, and this caused the alt belt to shred somewhat and get twisted up.
Ok, no power brakes, but we can limp home.
Get to our next stop, 20 miles closer to home, and as we leave I hear a belt flopping under the hood and the batt light comes on.
Its dark and snowing, we can try to make it home, the batts were brand new yesterday.
Drive with the lights off when we can, I dropped my friend off and I made it home.
Volts were still showing just above the red (you can't drive a gas engine this far w/o an alt)

On the way home from work this morning I picked up alt and vac pump belts.

Got home, put the charger on it and noticed the power steering belt was twisted up and the ac belt was gone
That's ok, its winter and my air never worked good anyway.
I got the belts all straightened up and tight. Good to go.

Its about 10 degrees out this morning, rather chilly.
I cycled twice, got 2 long cycles (about 15 seconds) and hit the key. It didn't spin particularly fast, but it is cold and maybe the batts aren't fully charged.
It fired anemically a few times, I cranked for about 15 seconds because usually it fires up all of a sudden. It didn't.
Cycle 2 more times. Engine fires strongly a few times then nothing.
Cycle 1 more time. Engine fires a few times and then nothing and starts turning slow.
Cycle 2 more times. Engine barely spins over then fires enough where it almost runs but isn't spinning fast enough.
Cycle again, barely fires at all, and is turning too slow.
BTW, my glows and controller are less than a year old, and I have rewired power and ground for the GPC

Go over to the old 6.2 chevy, cycle the plugs, it turns slow, sputters hard, runs and dies. Does this again, and then on the 3rd try it comes to life. And this is with glow plugs that aren't in the greatest shape. (6.2s might have a bad rep but they have treated me better than this 7.3 has)

Anyway, how does everyone else's truck start up at 10 degrees?

I know a block heater is nice (mine isnt working) but I think it should be able to start fairly easy w/o it.

Maybe my new batteries will come back to life after a good charge.
Yesterday after I put them in my volt reading was about as low as usual, it turned a little faster but it didn't really start quicker, still took 10 seconds cranking at 29 degrees.

 

Slow starting can be several things or any combination of things.
#1 glow plugs not getting as hot as should be.
#2 batteries yours are new so assuming they are the correct cca's eleminate these.
#3 battery cables often overlooked because after all it still starts.
#4 starter wear and not spinning fast enough caused by all the above slow starting causes premature wear, also overlooked because it still starts.
#5 fuel system IP and injectors wore, also overlooked because they degrade so slow it is not really noticable untill they don't start and run good anymore.
If yours has been starting good the combination of running without the alt. charging and cold temps. would make for a no start condition.
Caution I have never had a twisted belt work it will usually jump and cost you your new belts. What was turning your water pump.

 

First make sure the BH red power plug is in the BH, then do a continuity test with a meter on the main plug wires at the grill. If there is no continuity check the wires for breaks just behind the 120V plug. Pull on the wires and you can see the break as the shielding gets smaller, cut off the end. If the 2 power wires now have continuity through the BH just replace the 3 prong plug.

 

Last year mine fired up on two glow cycles after a long night chilling out at -5F, it's important to keep the pedal to the floor till she fires right, then you let off quick. Right now she fires off at 20F after a single glow cycle on 6 or 7 good plugs, but she ain't too happy about it, so I'm not going to even try without the block heater when it gets real cold, not till I have all plugs working good again.

 

another thought....slightly and kind of related...your batts are new...that does not mean they are good, and dropping them below 12v for any length of time wont make them happy anyway....just for *****s and grins I would replace them while they are under warranty

 

lol Most places don't replace them for @#$%^ and grins they check them out.

 

guess I have always had good luck with it...every year I walk into costco and get them swapped, my father in law does the same thing at wal-mart...we just walk in and claim that it seems to be losing its charge over about a 24 hour window

 

Maybe why batteries cost so much.

 

How long were the batteries below full charge at temps below freezing?

Batteies will freeze when they are discharged.
You may have had enough ice between the plates to warp them, and now the batteries are not delivering the cranking amps they should be.

9 degrees and 11 seconds on the glow plugs it fires and runs before it makes a full revolution.

I am not really understanding the cycle glow plugs twice before trying to start the engine.
That would be the same as 20 seconds with a manual control switch.

 

are you sure all the plugs are good?

 

if your batteries are in good condition you should be seeing around 12.2~12.4v (just sitting)....I would also check the battery cables for internal corrosion...mine looked fine, but when you put a load on it (starting) the was enough resistance that you could disconnect the drivers side and nothing would change.

star, guess I have dealt with 1 too many battery problems to take chances, being that I find myself in the middle of nowhere quite often mixed with the fact that the cars get less then ideal conditions for battery longgevity (somehow I manage to get 120* arizona summers and 10* california winters) I figure swap them while there still half alive, even when I wasnt doing my "battery dance" I would get 2 summers, and on the second winter get left stranded.

 

yea I hear you I see 120 sometimes and -60 is the coldest I have seen but one of my drivers was in -72 winter before last and talk about middle of nowhere.

 

yeah the battery thing kind of became a ritual when the wife got stuck...battery was 16 month old, replaced it during a colorado winter, lived through a phoenix summer, wife calls me and says it wont start...cranking real slow...it was only 7* out, and she was stuck with my 2 year old daughter.

I am normally not one to abuse warranties...but I am also not one to get stuck or stranded

 

Dave, not quite - the glowplugs burn out when their own temperature goes too high, but they also cool down much faster than the air in the precups - true that while the plugs are cooling down after the first cycle and before the second one the precup temperature would drop some, but when you hit the plugs for a second cycle the ambient temperature of the precup is still quite higher than what you started with in the beginning, which means at the end of the second cycle the precups are hotter than at the end of the first cycle. Plugs still don't burn out cause the second time around the controller will shut them off early if they get too hot, which is not the case if you manually glow them for 20 seconds, you're much more likely to burn them out on a single 20-second manual glow vs. two automatic 10-second glows. And yes I do realize this is not really applicable for people with only manual switch, but that's why I have both the solid-state controller and the override switch, so I can do stuff like that without frying parts and still fire up when I lose plugs and controller goes silly.

 

I guess a lot of that would depend on how long between cycles and exactly how cold it is.

I still like my manual plugs.
Sub zero and I can add a second or two to the first glow cycle and fire it up.