Epic Road Trip with 1990 7.3 IDI - Some questions about maintenance on the road.

[seawalkersee]

Okay...went back and read his post and see that I skimmed too fast. I know there is an afterglow that helps it warm up the cyl temps. I was under the impression that it was an on/off clicking while the WTS light was illuminated. This was the condition, and IS the condition you will have if you run the wrong plugs with the later GPC. I have never actually heard mine making a clicking noise while this was happening, HOWEVER, I was still in the modificatioin process of several things when I swapped over, and have been running the blower for a while, so the noise of it I am sure is shielding it.

With that, went back to make sure I was not offensive to anyone...and if it was taken that way, I did not mean it to be a shot. Just trying to help the OP out.

Also, I would still check the GPs if it does not fire off right away. If you have a good working system at 30ish degrees, you should be getting it to start after about 3-4 cranks. If you have to heat the plugs a second time at temps that warm, (I did not see an actual temp.), I still think there are a few bad ones.

SWS

 

[seacoats]

Hrmmm. The clicking that i'm hearing is starting after the wait to start light turns off. It runs for another 3-7 seconds. I had been waiting until after it was done to start. The instructions on the sunvisor state that i should crank for 30 seconds at a time with a break in between. I certainly don't crank it for that long. At worst it takes 3-4 tries of at most 5 seconds of cranking to get fired up and running. Spits out a bunch of white smoke on starting which clears up. I'll try starting right after the light goes off and see what happens. I assumed (perhaps incorrectly) that it was better to wait until the higher voltage registered on the voltmeter before starting. I'll keep y'all posted. Thanks FORDF250HDXLT for the info about the gp system.

 

[seacoats]

Well. In spite of my worst fears, the truck hasn't given us any serious problems. It made it alll the way to the Az border. About to park it and head south. Also, that coolant leak stopped all on its own. 0_o Don't know how that happened, but i'll just keep an eye on it i guess. Still leaking a bit of oil, which maybe got slightly worse after a 4wd trip through a chunk of Death Valley. Still not leaking more then a few drops when it's parked. Seems to only do it when it's hot, once it cools off it stops. Thanks everyone for all of the help and answering of questions. I'm sure that i'll have more in a few months when i make it home and start futzing around with it more trying to make things work more smoothly.