Won't start... Don't have a clue what I did wrong.

[ken74amx]

Don't use ether on a diesel. Us silicone spray! Same for two stroke motors. We use ether in the field as brake cleaner cause its cheaper. Dries fast too and has little to no lube. Diesels and two stroke motors need this lube. Also it wont blow your heads off the block like ether can.

 

[icanfixall]

A slow cranking engine is not likely to start. These idi diesels can only fire off when the compressed air in the cylinders reach around 940 degrees. Thats the temp needed for the fuel to ignite. A fast cranking engine will make more heat in the cylinders because the air is compressing faster. Think about it this way. Can you very slowly crank the engine and get it to fire... Nope... Another item about slow cranks.. As the battery gets low on voltage the amps go way yp and burns out the starter. You may have a bad starter by now too or low batteries or poor battery connections. Just some ideas trying to help you out.

 

[mariner45]

Often a slow cranking starter indicates bad starter brushes. Could be that your starter is no where near strong enough to turn the engine over fast enough to start the truck.
If you could fully charge the current batteries and replace the starter, you would have a better chance at getting the truck started.
HTH
mariner

 

[Agnem]

Let's divide and conquer! All this talk of slow cranking is valid, but let's first make sure there is fuel to the injectors. Loosen ONE injection line at the PUMP end, and hold a tissue around it. See if it wets. If it does, then we know at least that fuel is exiting the injection pump. Once you have verified that, then do the line bleeding until you verify fuel at the injector. By now, your glow plugs have taken a huge beating if you did not disable them, so disable them before doing anymore key-on stuff. Once you verify fuel at the injectors, verify smoke at the tailpipe. These engines won't start on a slow crank, but they will smoke! Where there is smoke, there is the potential for fire. Once you have smoke, then look at glow plugs and cranking speed.

 

[icanfixall]

Thats great advice Mel. Start with the basics and work from there till you find the problem. Might be bad glow plugs or a starter issue or a lift pump.... Lots of things can be the no start problem. When I read posts like this I so want to be there helping. Thats never the case but I still feel it would be so much easier to figure out whats going on just by listening to the engine cranking or looking at the battery connections.

 

[ken74amx]

Also I ran into this last fall on my truck. You could have a battery that is internally shorted. It will cause such a current issue that it wont crank fast enough to start the truck. I run Interstate blemish batteries group 107 or 108. They are for the Mercedes diesel ups and fedex trucks. 900cca each. And here only $32.10 each as blems. At that price I would just replace them both. I load tested my batteries and replaced the shorted one and no issue anymore. It wouldn't even start when jumping it prior. It started all winter running 100% waste oil at zero degrees without a block heater after two glow cycles. Good batteries make a world of difference in a diesel. Ford recommends battery replacement every two years!