Only starts on block heater

[tuxkilla]

This is my first diesel, so please bear with me as I shift gears into the world of glow plugs

I got an 86 6.9 F-250 that worked great until two days ago. Now, the truck only starts on the block heater. Once it starts, it runs beautiful however.
I pulled the glow plugs and the tips look like hell, and some are cracked off. I did a resistance test, and hooked them up using a jumper wire and they do not glow.
The PO replaced the glow plugs (put in autolite) right before he sold me the truck, so they are only 2 weeks old.
If the glow plug controller failed, could this be the cause of the plugs being toast after such a short amount of time?
I have been reading about the bypass, and how one should only use Beru plugs.
I want to make sure I am heading down the right road before I pick up a set of plugs and run the wires for the bypass. Are failed glow plugs the culprit of only starting when hooked to the block heater?

Thanks
Rob

 

[Exekiel69]

I'm not familiar with the 6.9 glow plug system but I can tell You autolite = $h!t, now You can get Yourself some motorcraft or beru glow plugs (they are the same) and at least You'll know the GP are good then start from there.

 

[RKOCH]

I never seen even autolites do that in 2 weeks... I would say he lied to you.

 

[69dieselfreak]

ya id half to say that the P O is full of ****

 

[tuxkilla]

Well, I helped him.
I am thinking the controller went out the day I got the truck or something.

 

[GenLightening]

The big problem is the broken off tips are now floating around in the cylinders and will be beating the crap out of the pistons..... Once they break off it's time to pull the heads. Or continue to drive it and replace the pistons or more?

 

[4x4TruckinGirl]

Shoot yea, broken tips are bad news.......unfortunately like gen said...... That aside it sounds like a GP problem...... so I suppose decide whether you want to pull the heads or whatnot, and replace the GP's.....

 

[69dieselfreak]

ya thats bad that the tips broke off but they probably have passed through the exhaust allready and done there damage

 

[GenLightening]

ya thats bad that the tips broke off but they probably have passed through the exhaust allready and done their damage

Possibly, but with the piston at an angle and the valves about an inch above that, the bits will stay in that little area until they're either part of the piston or the head. Still, the damage is done.

 

[cleithau]

Last year in the dead of winter before I knew better I had new Autolites last only 3 starts, there was no where to plug it in at my girlfriends place. If you look at the chart for glow plug time for the factory controller in the coldest of cold the factory controller will glow for 14 seconds, and Autolites are only rated to 11 seconds. Don't know how Autolite thought it made any sense to rate their GP's at 3 seconds less than the factory spec calls for, I think the Beru's are rated at 22 seconds, so a good factory controller can't kill them.

 

[69dieselfreak]

Still, the damage is done.

basically that was my point and from what it sounds like he has been driving around for a bit

 

[tuxkilla]

Yea, they are gone by now. The truck has an additional 500 miles since they would have broken off (if I assume they broke when the truck stopped starting).

So far, there has been no knock or any change in the way it drives. I didnt spend enough on the truck to warrant pulling the heads and replacing pistons or valves.

 

[sassyrel]

berus, and rig up a manual pushbutton--as the controller on those blocks is a pos---and it will even take out berus as the controller likes to stick on---

 

[CDX825]

The tips would not have broken off untill he pulled the plugs.You can pull the injectors and blow the tip of the glow plug out. Thats if they are still in the pre chamber. I had to do this with one autolite plug on my truck. I would not try to use the old controller as its probly shot and will burn up your new plugs. Failed glow plugs will cause starting problems if your not using the block heater.

 

[tuxkilla]

The plugs came right out, since they were so new. I would assume you would feel some resistance or something if the tips would have broken as they came out.
Now I get to decide if I want to pull the heads.