got a new windshield isntalled for 140 bucks last saturday, my god its like looking through nothing at all! theyre puttig the trim back on wednesday, as they had to order the clips. I hate dealing with those things so got no problems taking the truck in on my lunch to have em clip it back in.
Realistic budget of a 2wd -4wd and goodies build
- Thread starter Greg5OH
- Start date
put the western relay on yesterday, no more squeeling relay so thats good.
left it unplugged overnight, was about 34F this morning..nothing, coughed once but it just spins. I put the glowplug lead directly to the battery and tired crankign same thing. has fuel.
So when i get home again, I will check all pigtail ends, then check all teh plugs individually. if those are all good (but i doubt it..) then we got bigger problems.
left it unplugged overnight, was about 34F this morning..nothing, coughed once but it just spins. I put the glowplug lead directly to the battery and tired crankign same thing. has fuel.
So when i get home again, I will check all pigtail ends, then check all teh plugs individually. if those are all good (but i doubt it..) then we got bigger problems.
LCAM-01XA
Full Access Member
Brother what does your WTS light wiring look like? Ours got its polarity reversed from the factory - instead of receiving key-on power from the dash and being grounded by the controller it takes power from the same lug on the contactor that the plugs are hooked up to, and then it's permanently grounded at the dash. So basically how the '86-down trucks were wired up IIRC. What that does is tells us right away if the harness for the plugs is receiving any power at all - no light means no power at the Z-strip resistor, so suspect either key-on power supply for the contactor trigger (factory wiring) or contactor itself.
Also for the record we still have the factory contactor, it makes funny noises just like yours sometimes, but it has never ever failed to do its job, ever. Controller on the other hand, yeah, there's a reason it's bypassed
Also for the record we still have the factory contactor, it makes funny noises just like yours sometimes, but it has never ever failed to do its job, ever. Controller on the other hand, yeah, there's a reason it's bypassed
no WTS light or wiring, no controller at all. its just battery-relay-glowplugs.
I jsut glow em for about 10-12 seconds on cold days. warm days 6-8 seconds.
Im wondering if i burnt out some plugs glowing it for much longer witht he old squealing relay with the high resistance? ah..well see tonight what the multimeter shows
I jsut glow em for about 10-12 seconds on cold days. warm days 6-8 seconds.
Im wondering if i burnt out some plugs glowing it for much longer witht he old squealing relay with the high resistance? ah..well see tonight what the multimeter shows
noob question, but theyres no way to wire up teh relay backwardsis there? regarding the large lugs. one side battery one side GPs, if i reverse them on the poles shoudlnt make a difference right? the contact is broken untill the coil is energised.
and am i runing the plugs by not using the controller/metallic Z strip? I know it limits current inrush, does having it pull max current instantaneously burn them up? They gto a 2 year awrranty on em(plugs) if they are dead, seems i really DO need the strip. Problem is..pretty sure i chucked the whole controller deal long time ago during a massive shop cleanup and demo...damnit!
and am i runing the plugs by not using the controller/metallic Z strip? I know it limits current inrush, does having it pull max current instantaneously burn them up? They gto a 2 year awrranty on em(plugs) if they are dead, seems i really DO need the strip. Problem is..pretty sure i chucked the whole controller deal long time ago during a massive shop cleanup and demo...damnit!
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This is pretty interesting... took it from anotehr forum
You can search on the diesel pickup web sites and come up with a million different ideas. Here is my experience. I have an 84 6.9. I went thru all the glow plug troubles years ago, changing controllers, changing glow plugs all the time, trying to do it with a manual switch just doesn't work, if you count wrong and hold the button 9 seconds instead of 8 seconds you burn up glow plugs. While all this was going on I bought an 84 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera with the 4.3 V6 diesel (absolute best car I've ever owned, 45 mpg and ran it over 300,000 mi) I discovered the glow plugs on the Cutlass just came on and stayed on till the coolant temp got to 90F. How'd they do that?? Did some research and found out they used a "constant duty thermal limiting glow plug" that heats fast and turns itself down to maintain heat and prevent burn out. (Modern Powestrokes are similar) I discovered they were the exact same thread and style as the 6.9 (and 7.3) except a different connector on top. They were an AC 12G. I bought some and put them in my 6.9 on a manual switch and now 20 years later those same 8 glow plugs are in it and they still work. It's about 15 degrees out now and if I go out and hold down the button for about 20 seconds it will start. I've done about 5 or 6 others and they work out really good. The 12G plugs are getting really hard to find though. I have a set of 1109 Autolite that are supposedly the same cross reference to put in a neighbors pickup when the weather warms up, hoping they work out the same.
HOWEVER< those auto rx i bougth which were uspposedly dual coil and wont burn out, ya well 6/8 burnt out on first glow and swelled up, only 2 survived the first 6 second glow.
I ordered up one autolite 1109 which will be in tomorrow, wanted the AC delco 12G, but those are hard to find at least thru vatozone and oreily, napa might have em.
Anyway I have an old beru that ohms out at 8, i will glow this one for 45 seconds, along with the dual coil autolite on a test stand and see what happens.
Having them stay on for 2 minutes would be nice, mroe heat and cleaner cold starts with less smoke.. We shall see.
Of course..all this would be avoided with a proeprly functioning new style system, but heck with it, I do it myway, the hard way
You can search on the diesel pickup web sites and come up with a million different ideas. Here is my experience. I have an 84 6.9. I went thru all the glow plug troubles years ago, changing controllers, changing glow plugs all the time, trying to do it with a manual switch just doesn't work, if you count wrong and hold the button 9 seconds instead of 8 seconds you burn up glow plugs. While all this was going on I bought an 84 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera with the 4.3 V6 diesel (absolute best car I've ever owned, 45 mpg and ran it over 300,000 mi) I discovered the glow plugs on the Cutlass just came on and stayed on till the coolant temp got to 90F. How'd they do that?? Did some research and found out they used a "constant duty thermal limiting glow plug" that heats fast and turns itself down to maintain heat and prevent burn out. (Modern Powestrokes are similar) I discovered they were the exact same thread and style as the 6.9 (and 7.3) except a different connector on top. They were an AC 12G. I bought some and put them in my 6.9 on a manual switch and now 20 years later those same 8 glow plugs are in it and they still work. It's about 15 degrees out now and if I go out and hold down the button for about 20 seconds it will start. I've done about 5 or 6 others and they work out really good. The 12G plugs are getting really hard to find though. I have a set of 1109 Autolite that are supposedly the same cross reference to put in a neighbors pickup when the weather warms up, hoping they work out the same.
HOWEVER< those auto rx i bougth which were uspposedly dual coil and wont burn out, ya well 6/8 burnt out on first glow and swelled up, only 2 survived the first 6 second glow.
I ordered up one autolite 1109 which will be in tomorrow, wanted the AC delco 12G, but those are hard to find at least thru vatozone and oreily, napa might have em.
Anyway I have an old beru that ohms out at 8, i will glow this one for 45 seconds, along with the dual coil autolite on a test stand and see what happens.
Having them stay on for 2 minutes would be nice, mroe heat and cleaner cold starts with less smoke.. We shall see.
Of course..all this would be avoided with a proeprly functioning new style system, but heck with it, I do it myway, the hard way
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When the '86 and earlier system is bypassed with a push button the controller is no longer in use, so it should not be needed. Maybe there is more to it with the upgraded solid state system. My WTS light comes on whenever I power up my system. I think it was someone on FTE that wired up an additional glow plug inside the cab to monitor.
79jasper
Chickenhawk
If you're trying to find plugs that won't burnout, try the diesel rx, and the normal ac delco.
I know I had the 60G's in my 6.2, can't burn those things up if you try.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
I know I had the 60G's in my 6.2, can't burn those things up if you try.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
Waystro
No Class
Really? I've had good luck with them.
And of course I'm the oddball so I don't run Berus.
And of course I'm the oddball so I don't run Berus.
79jasper
Chickenhawk
Interesting. I was just reading about the 7.3 powerstroke ones that past few days and most seemed to like them.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
the IDI and the DI plugs are different animals!
LCAM-01XA
Full Access Member
a
No way to wire the contactor backwards, it's not polarity sensitive - as long as the heavy current passes thru the big lugs you're good. And yes, if the pull coil is not energized the big lugs should not be bridged.
The reason we have the WTS light even tho our system is full manual is that it tells us if the plugs are getting power, and for how long. Imagine holding the button and counting expecting the plugs to do their thing while contactor faults out and doesn't bridge and plugs never power up - you'll be wasting time figuring out what went wrong, the indicator light will help you rule out good portion of the system. Or what happened to our last set of plugs, controller hung up and kept on glowing them - when the 30 second mark hit it became obvious something wasn't right and ignition was shut off, yes some plugs didn't survive but some did, instead of all of them being a total loss like it would have happened if the light wasn't rewired...
Regarding the Z-strip - we have it, with Beru plugs, hold the button for 10-15 seconds and she lights right off, every time. Even with a semi-dead starter. Is it needed, idk, maybe it is maybe it isn't. But our factory system worked well till the controller got hung up, so I see no reason why the Z-strip would need removal - the push-button just replaces the controller as a trigger for the contactor, it has absolutely no effect whatsoever on the power transmission part of the circuit so it seemed prudent to leave that in its factory form. So far so good.
yes the PSD plugs are dual coil so they are self regulated. like those 6.2 plugs as well.
Update, so got the relay hooked up properly, I think it was before but anyway, it works. Go to glow for 7 seconds, nothing!
pull all the plugs, all 8 are dead. only 3 years old. SO i guess i must have killed them somehow before. I assume some were already dead from the hard starts in 50 degree weather.
Put all 8 new ones in, from orelieys, at least they got a 2 year warranty so if i burn em up ill try going with the delco dual coils..
anyway, glowed for 6 seconds, eventually coughed to life after 1.5-2 seconds of cranking. Im sure if i left them on for 10 seconds it would have lit off faster.
what was really itneresting, had my wife plug the truck in yesterday at 230 pm, and i got home 530 to start it to get wood, with no glowplugs on, i floored the fuel, turned the key and i kid you not, as soon as i turned the key thi thing roared to life. I dont knwo what happened, it doesnt even start that quick when its fully warm, takes 1 spin of the starter. Wish it always did that lol.
So, theoreticaly we should be all good now. THat western plow is rated at 800 inrush 150amp continuous, sealed casing. Funny that the western part number, which is made by trombetta and is labeled as a trombetta is 20 bucks at dealers and online, btu the trombetta marketed as a trombetta is 60+ online. Same exact product lol.
Update, so got the relay hooked up properly, I think it was before but anyway, it works. Go to glow for 7 seconds, nothing!
pull all the plugs, all 8 are dead. only 3 years old. SO i guess i must have killed them somehow before. I assume some were already dead from the hard starts in 50 degree weather.
Put all 8 new ones in, from orelieys, at least they got a 2 year warranty so if i burn em up ill try going with the delco dual coils..
anyway, glowed for 6 seconds, eventually coughed to life after 1.5-2 seconds of cranking. Im sure if i left them on for 10 seconds it would have lit off faster.
what was really itneresting, had my wife plug the truck in yesterday at 230 pm, and i got home 530 to start it to get wood, with no glowplugs on, i floored the fuel, turned the key and i kid you not, as soon as i turned the key thi thing roared to life. I dont knwo what happened, it doesnt even start that quick when its fully warm, takes 1 spin of the starter. Wish it always did that lol.
So, theoreticaly we should be all good now. THat western plow is rated at 800 inrush 150amp continuous, sealed casing. Funny that the western part number, which is made by trombetta and is labeled as a trombetta is 20 bucks at dealers and online, btu the trombetta marketed as a trombetta is 60+ online. Same exact product lol.
You should be using the zigzag chromalox strip, the longer the GP cycle is the hotter the ZZ strip gets increasing it's resistance therefor lowering the voltage to the GP's. In a ten (10) second cycle, the voltage starts out at battery voltage for about ~2 seconds then continually lowers to ~8.5 - 9 VDC. The initial current draw for all eight (8) GP's is ~196 amps, then lowers to ~134 amps for the duration of the cycle. 134/8=16.75 amps draw to each GP. With a GP controller, the cycle time is relavant to the ambient temp.
When the block is plugged in, your heating all the cylinders therefor helping to raise the compression temp, when using only the GP's, the injected fuel is the only thing thats getting heated, the compression heat has to reach ~980* to ignite the fuel. Of course the higher the cyl. compression (heating the air) is and fuel/air mixture, the quicker the engine will start.
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