OB_WAN
Full Access Member
a few months ago my truck got a new moose pump and some new injectors. shop did a great job. they warned me my lift pump was leaking a little but I didn't have the cash to get it fixed at that time.
about a month ago, the truck went dormant for a while. when I got back to it, it had a tough time starting. has an electrical short somewhere so is slowly draining battery. got it jump-started for a trip. during the trip, if I let it sit for a long period of time(8+ hours), it would be tough to start. take 10+ seconds to fire, would rough idle for a bit blowing white smoke, and then smooth out/clear up. I thought it was just air in the fuel line due to the leaky lift pump.
well, the problem is now a lot worse. tried to start it the other day and killed the batteries(probably already partially drained from voltage drain) turning it over. thought something was wrong with the lift pump so charged the batteries and while they were charging, loosened the fuel filter to see if it had fuel. was completely full. tightened it back up and about 20 mins later tried turning over the engine. it fired IMMEDIATELY. great idle. note: when trying earlier it was prob about 45 degrees out. when trying the 2nd time, it was ~65 degrees out.
Okay, fast-forward a couple of days to today(I drove it yesterday and last night no prob). had been parking it nose down to reduce air in fuel lines in case that was the problem(sloped driveway). worked for me in the past when I had injector return leaks.
I went out this morning to start it up. it was about 35 degrees out. was turning it over and it wouldn't fire. tried a few times. on the third attempt, it acted like one of the cylinders was trying to fire: on each rotation, it seemed like it would fire but wasn't enough to get the mass moving. all this time it's blowing white smoke out the tailpipe. gave up. didn't have time to check it today when it was warm out.
So... At first I thought the problem was the fuel. after re-occurring problems and two specific problems when it's cold out, I'm now thinking that either something is wrong with the glowplug relay or the plugs themselves are done.
Any thoughts? any suggestions for diagnosing the problem (in newbie language?)
about a month ago, the truck went dormant for a while. when I got back to it, it had a tough time starting. has an electrical short somewhere so is slowly draining battery. got it jump-started for a trip. during the trip, if I let it sit for a long period of time(8+ hours), it would be tough to start. take 10+ seconds to fire, would rough idle for a bit blowing white smoke, and then smooth out/clear up. I thought it was just air in the fuel line due to the leaky lift pump.
well, the problem is now a lot worse. tried to start it the other day and killed the batteries(probably already partially drained from voltage drain) turning it over. thought something was wrong with the lift pump so charged the batteries and while they were charging, loosened the fuel filter to see if it had fuel. was completely full. tightened it back up and about 20 mins later tried turning over the engine. it fired IMMEDIATELY. great idle. note: when trying earlier it was prob about 45 degrees out. when trying the 2nd time, it was ~65 degrees out.
Okay, fast-forward a couple of days to today(I drove it yesterday and last night no prob). had been parking it nose down to reduce air in fuel lines in case that was the problem(sloped driveway). worked for me in the past when I had injector return leaks.
I went out this morning to start it up. it was about 35 degrees out. was turning it over and it wouldn't fire. tried a few times. on the third attempt, it acted like one of the cylinders was trying to fire: on each rotation, it seemed like it would fire but wasn't enough to get the mass moving. all this time it's blowing white smoke out the tailpipe. gave up. didn't have time to check it today when it was warm out.
So... At first I thought the problem was the fuel. after re-occurring problems and two specific problems when it's cold out, I'm now thinking that either something is wrong with the glowplug relay or the plugs themselves are done.
Any thoughts? any suggestions for diagnosing the problem (in newbie language?)