long cranking.....

73idi88f350 · Dec 25, 2014

about a month ago my truck was hard starting oddly it would run for 7 days and then get an air instruction.

long story short i replaced all kinds of stuff.. all in the last 2 months
new batteries because they couldnt take 1 light of the glow plugs and then a crank. and new glow plugs
all new rubber hose return lines caps and orings
installed a faucet pump which fixed the problem.. tho i assume it masked it...

well now in the last week ive noticed the hard start coming on again(and its been about 10* warmer this week).... and i had to crank like crazy last night.. then it fired with a hard rev and lots of grey smoke... so was it getting fuel, and not lighting the glow plugs? or burned out..

the mileage on the engine is unknown along with the pump and injectors,i bought it used and the guy i got it from said it was low mileage but whats his opinion of that? but id be real mad to buy new injectors and pump and not fix a thing.. the truck runs great. tho it does need a matched set of injectors.

OLDBULL8 · Dec 25, 2014

Low compression, burn't out glow plugs, GP relay, slow cranking, air intrusion, check olives on line to IP.

What brand GP's did you install? Some may be burn't out already.

sassyrel · Dec 25, 2014

as oldbull said,, if you put anything but berus in there,, trouble is brewing....and that's just what it sounds like is happening

73idi88f350 · Dec 25, 2014

Brand new olives only 2 left at the filter head and injector pump.
Brand new motorcraft beru plugs on Manuel switch count in my head to about 15 which is about 7-10real sec
It's intermittent so I can't be compression thing cranks over like a new diesel has new starter in last year and all new larger cables with soldered lugs and I put group 31s in about a mount ago

73idi88f350 · Dec 25, 2014

sat at the inlaws for a few hours after this morning hard start.. went to leave hard starting again.. so i sat a sec and then gave it a shot of ether fired right up.. so im gonna go check out the glow plugs

chicken bones · Dec 25, 2014

Had the same problem with my truck,I ended up replacing the starter,now fires right away.Did not realise how slow the old starter was cranking until I got the new one installed.

73idi88f350 · Dec 25, 2014

Checked glow plugs all 8 burned out so I must be burning them to long I've read other people saying they burn them for 5 sec

79jasper · Dec 25, 2014

Count by thousands. Pretty much guaranteed way to count.
Which glowplugs are you using?

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73idi88f350 · Dec 25, 2014

zd-9 motorcraft berus

franklin2 · Dec 25, 2014

I count 5 sec, crank about 3 revolutions, and then glow it again for 5 sec. If it's really cold out, I may hold it 7 sec or so. It usually fires the second time, never fires on the first try. If it's really cold it may take 3 tries. I never crank crank crank for a long time. If it doesn't fire after cranking for a couple of seconds I don't grind on the starter, I just stop and glow it a little bit again.

Remember; If you have a air intrusion problem, it will fire up for a couple of seconds and then quit, never to start again unless you do a lot of cranking. That's because air will not get in the hard lines after the injection pump, so it will run just for a second on that fuel, till that runs out.

If it's not hitting a lick from the very beginning, you have another problem, especially if there is a bunch of stinky white smoke coming out of the exhaust pipe while you are cranking.

73idi88f350 · Dec 25, 2014

franklin2 said:
I count 5 sec, crank about 3 revolutions, and then glow it again for 5 sec. If it's really cold out, I may hold it 7 sec or so. It usually fires the second time, never fires on the first try. If it's really cold it may take 3 tries. I never crank crank crank for a long time. If it doesn't fire after cranking for a couple of seconds I don't grind on the starter, I just stop and glow it a little bit again.

Remember; If you have a air intrusion problem, it will fire up for a couple of seconds and then quit, never to start again unless you do a lot of cranking. That's because air will not get in the hard lines after the injection pump, so it will run just for a second on that fuel, till that runs out.

If it's not hitting a lick from the very beginning, you have another problem, especially if there is a bunch of stinky white smoke coming out of the exhaust pipe while you are cranking.

dont seem to hit a lick,but its 30-40's here and i dont plug it in... unless i hit it with a small shot of ether. then it fires right up... the odd thing was it never fires up then dies. it just becomes harder to start.. and its looking like its because i heat the glow plugs to long. all 8 are burned out for sure... i tested 2 with the test light method no light so i tired for the heck of it on the wiring to see if i got a glow and no light ether. i already ordered some more zd9s.the ones in there are only about 3 months old. i try not to use ether so thats not normal.

79jasper · Dec 26, 2014

Ohm them.
Test light isn't a guaranteed method. Especially depending on the quality of the test light.

I would start by completely redoing the glowplug system first. Especially if you want to keep running a pushbutton setup.
Problem could very well be the harness, relay, or power feed.

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73idi88f350 · Dec 26, 2014

Power feeds new about a year or so ago along with the relay volt gauge hardly moves when I turn then on now. I am a mechanic so I know all the basics just new o diesels

franklin2 · Dec 26, 2014

The testlight is a pretty good test, especially when it doesn't light at all. It might light on a marginal glowplug, but if it doesn't light at all it's pretty much a guarantee that glowplug is bad.

The way I use my glowplugs may be a little bit conservative, but it's a good place to start learning what it takes to get the engine started without overdoing it. I have never plugged in my truck since I bought it. I don't want to pay the electric bill.

When you do the short term tries you know when it's going to start. During the next to the last try you can hear the engine kick over a little bit on one or two cylinders. So you know the next time you glow it for 5secs it's going to fire up. Just keep experimenting with it.

73idi88f350 · Jan 5, 2015

well i put new glow plugs in, made a new glow plug harness with 10awg wiring everything soldered. moved the glow plug controller, but im not happy with where i put it, but happy with it not in the location banks puts it. heres a few pics of making the harness i didnt use fuse able link i just used plain wire
this are the terminals i used at the glow plugs i wanna design something else tho because that's a horrible way to make a good connect