Hardest time starting when cold

[FoolhardyIDI]

Its only been in the high 30's at night and she has the hardest time starting in the morning. When I say hard time starting, the batteries will drain till they have nothing left. There is also the nice white smoke coming from the exhaust from the unburnt diesel. The starter is not cranking very fast ether. Maybe a weak battery. But once she's been started no problems for the rest of the day. I put new glow plugs in and I can hear the controller click once when I turn on the ignition and after 10 sec or so the light turns off. Im at a loss. Any help would be great. Thank you in advance.

 

[79jasper]

What brand glowplugs?
Need to check the voltages at the relay.
Also make sure your battery connections are nice clean and tight.

Sent from my SM-T537R4 using Tapatalk

 

[FoolhardyIDI]

Beru ZD-9 glow plugs. Voltage at relay??? Where do I do this at? Also what should the voltage be at? I just replaced the original battery cables with new ones and cleaned up the terminals on the batteries at the same time.

 

[jay_t]

This year I put in new glow pugs first, which kept the WTS light on longer, a new glow plug controller, which did not seem to do much, and finally two new batteries which made all the difference. Now at 12F without being plugged in, it starts. The old batteries would always hold a charge and take a charge but were just old and would drain out too fast.

 

[CDX825]

Unscrew the fuel filter in the morning and see if its full of fuel. The way you describe it makes it sound like its leaking down over night loosing prime. That and your batteries may be weak so have them tested.

 

[mobilemech]

white smoke, sounds like the glow plug system isn't working. how old are the plugs? sloenoid on the controller may not be working. need to check the voltage either at the output of the solenoid or at the plugs

 

[bbjordan]

The starter is not cranking very fast ether.

The engine must turn over fast enough or it won't start.
As 79jasper said: "Also make sure your battery connections are nice clean and tight."

If they are, you may need a new starter.

 

[FoolhardyIDI]

So today I plugged in the block heater and let it heat the engine for an hour before I tried to start it and she fired right up. Im thinking that the batteries are just a little to old to turn the engine over fast enough to get it started when its cold.