Glow Plug Question... Need help ASAP

[Olb Blue Beast]

Hey guys, so something weird happened to me on my way up to the cottage. I noticed the "wait to start" light was dimly lit, not full like a cold morning start, but half. I ignored this as it has been doing this for about 2 weeks. But then the light just went out, came back on, and went out again. All this happening within a minute. Then the light came back on full blast, my headlights dimmed, and all I could smell was electrical burning. I pulled over, turned off the motor, popped the hood, and took a look. Smoke appeared to be coming from the glow plug controller, but none of the wires looked to be burned. I pulled the fuse (#18 on the fuse panel) and fired it up. Everything was fine, just had no gauges except the speedo. Drove about 35-45km and pulled into a gas station to check on everything. Everything was fine. I decided to put the fuse back in and see if it would either do it again, or not. It made it to the cottage alright. So, my question is, what the hell happened? Trucks a 1990 ford f250, 7.3l idi, 5spd, 553,350km

 

[79jasper]

Sounds like glowplug solenoid stuck.
Sad thing is, pulling the fuse would make no difference, so now you probably need new glowplugs also.
Possible to just be the controller.

Sent from my SM-G900R4 using Tapatalk

 

[mblaney]

I hate to always post the same thing but I highly recommend the relay upgrade - part number is in my signature. The ones you get from napa, etc, are POS.

 

[Olb Blue Beast]

I hate to always post the same thing but I highly recommend the relay upgrade - part number is in my signature. The ones you get from napa, etc, are POS.

Do you have a write up on the Stancor glow plug relay?

 

[mblaney]

Pretty easy mod to do! This is info I used http://www.guzzle7pt3.com/s_gpr.php

 

[Olb Blue Beast]

Got a picture if where you put it?

 

[mblaney]

I think I posted a picture here once but I don't have it on my phone anymore... you shouldn't need it anyway; the new relay replaces the old one - it will fit where the original one is. The only major modification is bending the shunt to fit the different orientation. I heated my shunt with a torch and it bent perfectly. The whole job should take you 1/2 hour. remember to remove both negative battery cables!

 

[icanfixall]

It does sound like the relay burned out and may have taken the glow plugs with it. I realize the relay looks very much like any other off store relay but as Mel proved. They only look the same. Internally they are different. So please buy the Ford relay. What I called the relay is the brown case solenoid looking thing on the solid state glow plug controller. Same goes for the fender mounted solenoid. Mel found the parts in the cheap one he bought were very weak. He showed this at a rally too.

 

[Olb Blue Beast]

What's the shunt? Is that the steel ribbon lookin thing?

 

[mblaney]

What's the shunt? Is that the steel ribbon lookin thing?

That's it. The Stancor relay has a mounting bracket that rotates the terminals 90 degree. You have to bend one end of it to line up. The original mounting bolts fit IIRC.

icanfixall - I went that route after my NAPA relay failed in six months. the Ford one lasted one month That is why I went for the upgrade - the Stancor has been in for at least three years now... maybe five.

Edit:
Pulled my service record book and:

Original GP relay died in Nov 2009 at 175,000 km
NAPA GP relay died in July 2010 at 191,000 km
Ford GP relay died in Dec 2010 at 198,000 km
Stancor relay installed and is still fine at 274,000 km

 

[mblaney]

I took some pictures of my GP relay this weekend. Hopefully they help!

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