help with work truck
 

Here is the situation.. 02 F 450 Diesel 6 spd flat bed.. 4x4..

The truck has trouble starting in the morning but will start quickly when warmed up... It needs starting fluid in the morning. It is not cold here and I am scared what is to come once it hits the teens in temperature.. What is the problem/ solution.. ANy tips to keep this thing on the road and convince my father to keep the truck as he is ready to sell it.. He can't figure the good part of a diesel motor.. I told him he will love it.

I would not use any starting fluid. WD40 would be a better choice. No chance of blowing up your engine. It's probably your glow plug relay that is acting up.

Dave.

Does he know he can plug in the block heater ? That should help some.

Do not us starting fluid, WD40 only!! There are plenty of posts why not to us it!!! Do a volt check on the glow plug relay!! Are your batt's. good!! That's where I would start!!

How cold is not too cold? I've seen several trucks with bad glow plugs that would do the same thing. Check the relay first, and as everyone else has said, starting fluid is a no-no.

A friend of mine gave me a call the other morning, said he can't start his truck has to go to work it's his last day there!! said to us wd40 and give it a try! He said where do I spray it into, I said up the tail pipe stupid ( kiddingly!!) he said still won't start.. Went over to help, glow plug relay bad, Jumped across the posts 5 sec. started right up!! Smelled something, went to the back of truck tail pipe smelled like wd40 and was all wet from it. I just had to laugh!!!! Starts his new job after the holiday at FORD!!!

Thanks all, I will let him know about the starting fluid and the glow plug relay.. I just feel really bad b/c I was the one that told him to buy the truck and now it is giving him problem.. I know once it is running good he will love it.. Any big recalls on it that we should be aware of... ALso, is this motor pretty bullet proof?

Thanks so much for the help ya'll are fantastic

Oh, one more thing.. What is the price of the glow plug relay and how difficult is it to change?

Upgrade the GPR while you are at it.

http://guzzle.rbmicro.com/s_gpr.html

The motor is as bullet proof as can be, just keep up on oil changes and the HEUI system will last forever. And maybe carry a spare cam sensor.

I think that selling a prized possession like that truck would be a huge mistake.
Especially if he wants to work it like a truck, they will more than pull thier weight if you load them up.
Hard starting on a diesel is 99% of the time a glow plug issue and one of the most easy to fix.

Isn't there some sort of PCM Flash upgrade that helps cold starts? Something about sending an electrical pulse to the injectors before start to make sure they are opened?

(Now tme for me to go and get a new GPR jsut in case)

Yah the 7.3 is pretty bullet proff compared to the 6.0
Nick

Napa sells the GPR-109 for about 20.00. Easy to put in, bout 20 minutes.