I have a 2002 F250 7.3. When cold (morning start up or sits a while) the truck runs like ****!! It idles rough, when I take off it starts going (very very sluggish) then the more I step on the pedal the less RPM's I get, I take my foot off the pedal and ease into it, it starts going (very sluggish) then again RPM's come down, Step on it again and same thing, then sometimes it'll stall and it's very hard to start back up, also when im on the pedal and it don't really move, I see white smoke out of the exhaust. Then once I get going, it'll prematurely shift into OD and shake till the RPM's finally come up. Once it warms up, it runs perfect, no issues at all. The colder it is the worse it is. I'n the summer it does it but not nearly as bad, it's sluggish then clears up.

 

Sounds like you might have a glow plug issue. If you have a relay there are some easy ways to test it. I've seen the threads but never paid attention as I have a Glow Plug Control Module.

My truck did not like to run when it was cold. I replaced my injectors and glow plugs in the past year and now it's not happy but runs decent when it's cold. I can't say for sure since I put new injectors in there (although my old ones were running fine when I took them out) but I did replace all my glow plugs (originals with 306K miles on them) and it starts and runs better from the get go now.

Hopefully someone will be along with more help. In the meantime there are plenty of hard start threads that might have some help.

 

Thank You!!

 

 

Truck has 180k on it. Last year (June of 2017) I replaced 4 injectors (Drivers Side) and I replaced the glow plugs on that side too, I used aftermarket glow plugs, maybe they are just ****... If I plug it in, it's better, last winter I was plugging it in and it wasn't perfect but it was ok, it seems to be getting worse. I havn't plugged it in yet this year, the low has only gotten down to maybe 52.

 

The word is that aftermarket glow plugs are bad news, the tips can swell up and become impossible to remove without removing the head. You would be best served to replace them with OEM as soon as you can.

 

 

One other thing you might want to look into is the EBPV may be sticking partially closed until it get full warmed up. Mine does not stick, but the symptoms you describe are like how mine acts for the first minute or two in cold weather.

 

It sounds like injectors to me. If you want to read a saga, you can read my cold start thread right here. I had 155K miles on my truck and was very good about sending in used oil analysis and maintenance in general back then. I didn't even want to THINK it was injectors, but that's what it turned out to be. Once I changed them, THEN the real saga started, but that is a whole 'nother story.

 

Get a temp guy and shot the exhaust manifolds and see which one's heat up first. Should tell you were your problem is if it's glow plugs. Check the good side to just in case something came loose. All good information above, you just have to sort it out.

 

Ok, thank you for this! I just ordered 8 Motorcraft glow plugs..

Thank you, I will check it out

I'll do that tomorrow morning

 

When was the last time you checked your engine oil? Low engine oil could make act as described when cold