Hi all - sorry if this is a newbie question!

97 PS 7.3, bought 2 years ago with 100k miles. Pretty stable truck.

Lately, rough starting with rough running for the first 10 min and lots of white smoke. I read a ton, and figured out that my GPR is dying. If I short it with a screwdriver for 1 minute, nice start. So far so good. I checked the glow plugs, all appear good (on the valve cover gasket connectors anyway). I also seem to be draining my batteries real easy. They are 6 years old, and I'm thinking it's just the batteries. If the truck sits a few weeks (not a daily driver), it is lately drained. May have enough to crank and start, may not. They're sealed batteries, and the indicator eyes are green. I put them on my battery charger, and they took charge (for whatever that's worth.) The alternator is putting out well. I tried looking for "parasitic drain" by putting a multitester between the positive terminal and the harness, with no amps or milliamps registering, after charging. I believe this means no parasitic drain.

So, I just bought 2 new batteries (Exide) and was installing today. When I was installing the first (on the driver side), I connected the negative first. As I was connecting the pos, there was a slight "crackle" of current. I could make it spark just a bit, then nothing. I realized the door was open, maybe the dome light drawing, so I closed it. Then tried again, it seems if the harness sits disconnected a minute or so, then I'll get a brief "crackle" when it touches the pos post. If I do it again right away, then nothing. So I tried again with the multimeter, no current. I'm wondering if there's a capacitor somewhere, trying to charge itself as soon as I connect? Is it possible I have some "current leak" somewhere? I guess of course it's possible - DUH. Does it SOUND like it?

I'm going to wait to replace GPR til I'm in the US (living in Canada - costs twice as much) unless someone here says I should do it now.

Truck starts great now, as long as I let the glow plugs go a while. I guess I'll see in a while if the batteries drain, but I'm supposed to leave for a month-long trip with the camper on the back next week - I'm trying to figure out if I have a problem to fix or not.

Any help out there?

Thanks a lot.

mm

 

is it cranking slow? could be the starter is on its way out. mine did the same thing. let it sit for about 15 sec after the glow plug light goes out and its a slow start but it starts. not super slow but not a instant start.

 

Thanks for that, but no, just replaced with new aftermarket starter last year. When the battery charge is good, cranks fast. Just rough start. That seems better with letting the glow plugs stay on a while for the slow GPR. But the old batteries sure were draining easy.
Thanks again.

 

Check your glove compartment...

 

First, you always want to put the + cable on first. When you start with the - then put on the + you're completing the circuit and it will always spark. Sparks are bad at a battery. You always want to do + first then -.
There is a very minute drain by the PCM or something. Even key off, there is very low juice being drawn and if you do - first then + it will always spark on the +. Do the + first then the -, and it will never spark on the -.

As for hard starting, sounds common for injector servicing. Might be as simple as new external o-rings, or could go deeper with issues from improper maintenance from the previous owner(s).