Let me set this up and then maybe someone can chime and point me straight to it.

Two weeks ago, we went though severe flooding where I live. As a volunteer firefighter, I was called into service with my truck. I am usually very careful where I buy fuel, but on this day, my fuel supplier was over 30 miles away and I needed fuel now. I went to a Sunoco station and filled up. I had a half of tank before doing so. The truck ran well the entire day. After the emergency, I came home and parked it. It sat for almost two weeks with no running.

Yesterday, I needed the truck and even with the temps in the 40's, I cycled the glow plugs since it had not been run. Usually the old girl starts right up. It took almost a 10 second crank and upon starting, the smoke rolled.

With what I was doing, it was a start and stop day. On each cycle, it was hard to start, but when started, ran well. My first thought was batteries, check both, they are OK, holding 14.2 volts. My next hought was that the fuel may have waxed as the temps did get into 10's after the flood so I put some "Liquid Fire" and fuel dryer in it. I took it up on the interstate and dogged it for about 30 minutes to get the additives through it.

I still have the same problem.

I drained the fuel bowl looking for water. No water.

Do you think I got a bad batch of fuel?

 

cold starts with smoke is most likely glow plugs..you say it runs well while running.. it wouldnt be bad fuel...does she fire right up after she is up to temp's??

another thing to check is oil level in the reservoir before cranking..
if that looks good..un plug the ICP and see if she starts right up..

 

Sounds not like fuel, but electrical. If it was bad fuel, I would think she'd run worse, warmed up or not. With going through flood water, you may have gotten more corrosion on a ground point, causing sensors to read a tad low. I'd try cleaning all the grounds and coating them with some Noalox.

 

I would verify the glow plug circuit and also be suspicious of the batteries. Remember that 14.2 VOLTS does NOT translate into cranking AMPS. If you hooked 10 D cell batteries up you would be looking at 15 volts, but you dang sure aint gonna crank an engine with it.
Clean the terminals and put a charger on it and see what happens. If this cures it and if you have a warranty on the batteries, shoot me a PM and I will give you a tip on getting them replaced.

Brendan makes a good point also. Did you dunk the starter in water?

 

The batts are a little over a year old. I should not need the GP's in the 40's.

Cleaning the terminals is something I did not think about. Will do that today.

I was not in water over the hubs so I am ok there.

The reason I am thinking fuel is beacuse you always suspect the last thing you did and fuel was it.

As for running, it runs like it did before. I am still in the middle of what I think is a power problem. I am suspecting my uppipes, but this damn back won't let me climb in there and check. At times I hear what sound like an exhaust leak right behind the radio and every once in a while, I smell exhaust in the cab. Oh hell, the truck is like a woman, always wanting me to stroke her and wanting dollars. LOL

 

I fully understand the back issues, but you check the uppies from underneath. Get a flashlight and lay down.

I aint believing I just said that to a man....

 

sounds like you have the answer so why bother posting?? my truck does not need GP to start in 30* weather but i get long cranks and lots of smoke when she does fire..the GP's help..even in 40*-50* weather....a little testing will tell you there good or not...then you will have the answer if the GP's are needed...

 

My truck wouldn't start sometimes @ 40-50 degrees when i had a GPR problem. 45, and damp out i had to jump the relay sometimes until my stancor came in. I also had two dead GP's. With checking ohms told me that.

 

What a sarcastic snide reply!

But I did find the problem. The negative battery cable on the passenger side battery was loose. I lifted it right off of the post. Cleaned them all, starts right up.

 

I also don't agree with this. It'll start without GPs but not very nicely. They are easy to check!

edit- I see you got it figured out, nice.

 

Joe,

Now that was funny. The moment I read it, I busted out laughing.

Flashlight, very kinky! hahahahaha

 

yes it was...when you reply with an answer like the GP's are not needed with out even testing...what are we to do?? we are here to help you do the testing and then we can come up with a answer....we assumed GP's was the problem cause you said you tested the batts and they tested fine...i would have thought when you tested them..checking for a loose terminal would have been a instinct...any way's...glad you got her fixed..congrats....