1993 F250 IDI Turbo hard/no start

[rellerman]

I still need to put my truck in my signature, but I have a 1993 turbo IDI with 320k on it and I just did the glow plugs on it a couple weeks ago. It was starting fine up until recently. I has been a little bit colder here lately, sometimes as low as 22 but nothing too crazy yet. Lately it's been getting harder to start. I killed the batteries trying to start it yesterday. For some reason the relay still clicks while its cycling the plugs (bad relay?). Two weeks ago I accidentally ran some B20 biodiesel. I didn't realize it was bio until after I pumped about 8 gallons so I stopped at a different station to grab some regular diesel. Would running the bio have anything to do with it not starting?

 

[79jasper]

Probably not.
What glowplugs did you use?
Also check condition of the glowplug connectors?

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[rellerman]

Motor craft is what I replaced them with. The plastic connectors are all crumbled, but the metal pieces are still intact. I read somewhere that bio sometimes acts as a cleaning agent and breaks up all the crud in the tank and plugs the filter up

 

[79jasper]

It could, but that would act more like a fuel delivery problem. So it would do it all the time, not just starting.

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[rellerman]

Yeah once she's going, she runs fine. But I tried twice to start it yesterday and nothing. It didn't sounds like it wanted to fire

 

[FORDF250HDXLT]

here ya go brother;
http://www.oilburners.net/forums/sh...he-87-94-glow-plug-system&p=881845#post881845

 

[icanfixall]

When cranking are you seeing any white smoke out the tail pipe? If you do that means the glow plugs are not working. It can be several things but it does not mean the plugs are burned out either. My guess is you are getting very low current to the controller because of a bad connection. Best place to look for a bad electrical connection to the controller is the large main engine wire harness plug. When corrosion gets in the plug it gets hot. So hot it will melt the plug and start an electrical fire. Look at the plug. On my 89 harness its located on the passenger side fender well. Its the plug that is about 3 inches long and 1 inch wide. One end has 2 yellow wires. Those 2 wires are connected together at each end. Ford and the rest of the electrical industry found its cheaper to run 2 small wires to handle the volts and amps instead of one large wire... So that plug male and female pieces corrode and they can't handle the load and heat up. Mine smoked badly one morning start. I saw smoke come out from that side of the hood to fender seam. I thought it was my starter burned down. So I shut down and restarted .. No problem. Crawled under and felt starter.. Not hot but barely warm. Grabbed the main wire harness and felt plenty of heat. Saw the melted end. Fixed problem with a straight shot from controller to fender soleboid with some 6 gauge speaker wire from a sterio shop. Works better than original now.

 

[rellerman]

So it's gotten to the point now where sometimes won't even fire off of ether. I know that ether is awful for these trucks, I just needed to try and track down where the issue was coming from. I've drained the batteries almost every time I tried to start it. Eventually it will fire, after about 6 or so attempts of cranking. So if it's not fuel related and it sometimes won't fire off of ether, what could it be?

 

[sjwelds]

How do you KNOW it isn't fuel related?

 

[lukewarmt]

Air intrusion? If it's not starting on ether I would suspect air. Do you have an electric fuel pump? Have you checked for fuel/air at the schrader valve?

 

[rellerman]

A buddy mentioned too much air somewhere, but didn't know where it would be. I have not checked the Schrader valve yet. It's still mechanical(I think that's what these trucks run?) as far as I know. I never changed it

 

[rellerman]

I'm sorry I didn't mean to make it seem like I knew it wasn't fuel related, it just seems that if it was fuel related, it'd hit off of ether. But I don't know a whole lot about the issue, so that's why I'm here.

 

[sjwelds]

Well I think you still need SOME fuel to get it to fire, even on ether. Could be wrong tho.

Do you know the condition of the IP (injection pump)?

 

[rellerman]

From what I've read, it should hit off of just ether, but it won't run long, which would mean fuel related issue, but I'm not entirely positive either. I'm not sure if it's ever been replaced, it looks pretty old and the truck now has 320k on it.

 

[sjwelds]

To me it sounds like the IP isn't building enough pressure to pop the injectors. Just a WAG. Not sure on the ether thing.....

Edit: Have you confirmed you have power to the FSS (fuel shutoff solenoid) when the key is on?

Edit X2: Have you checked the wiring that Gary, icanfixall, posted about earlier in this thread?