Starting Troubles

[pacman45]

Hi,
So I am pretty new to the diesel world but have owned a couple in the past along with some heavy machinery. 1. What should the compression on a 7.3 non-turbo with 167000 miles be around? 2. I have replaced all the fuel injectors, seal caps and lines. Along with filters. 3. Batteries are new 4. Starter works great and I crank above 200 rpm. 5. I replaced the glow plug relay and control box as an assembly.
Now the symptoms. Truck was sitting for about 2 years in my buddies construction yard. Has a nice custom bed on it with tool boxes all over and a nice hitch setup. He runs pretty new equipment now. I towed it to my yard and proceeded to change the stuff I listed along with an oil change and new fuel. Went to start it and I see no wait or glow plug light. I do hear an audible on/off clicking noise for several seconds then it stops. Crank it and it wants to start but not quite. do this a couple more times and then the batteries start to drain. I hit it with a quick squirt of starting fluid( I know its bad ) and it fires up. Runs with a good amount of greyish white smoke then clears up after about 5 min to a very little bit of bluish grey smoke. I drive it down the block and back to the yard has pretty good power considering no turbo. The truck is a single rear wheel f350 w 33 inch tires. It was able to chirp them off the line without me trying. Back at the yard, do a few cosmetic things go and start it a couple of more times and it starts up no issue. This morning I go out to start it and nothing. No clicking like I heard yesterday and wont start. So any ideas on whats going on with the glowplug situation would be helpful. should I see something on the dash? Should I hear noises, and with the relay and controller being new what else may cause this problem? Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[79jasper]

You didn't list glowplugs themselves.
Berus only.

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[pacman45]

oh yes I forgot, I did what my local auto store had which I think were champions or ac delcos

 

[pacman45]

Should it matter in the short time if they weren't motorcraft or berus. We are talking overnight???

 

[pacman45]

Just looked at the receipt, 6 champions and 2 ac delcos

 

[IDIoit]

what year truck?
need to run a multi meter and check the GPC and the harness.
these harness get pretty ugly sometimes.

 

[pacman45]

93
originally when I installed and heard the clicking I had power on the relay and at the glow plugs as the noise was clicking then I had power with a test light at the glow plugs. It was too cold today to try and figure that part out. Below 0 with the wind chill.

 

[pacman45]

Any ideas??? i would like to get it running tomorrow if at all possible. Or at least know if i have a bad engine.

 

[icanfixall]

Please remove those glow plugs. We recommend running only the motorcraft beru zd9 plugs. Any other plug fails is a very short time and... Sometimes they swell the tips requiring the heads to come off to safely remove them. A few years ago a member had a shop replace his plugs. They broke off several tips and just reved the engine till they blew thru the valves. Well some ended up stuck in the pistons causing a knock. They screwed that member but good cause they did nothing about fixing that engine. Many here have researched the plugs and have found the only plug that works is the Beru ZD9 in the solid state controller systems. In the early 6.9 they used the Beru ZD1 lugs. Where did you purchase the injectors and were they new or rebuilt. This forum can recommend very good trusting sellers other than ebay. Many injectors these days are rebuilt by testing only. Then they are falsely sold as rebuilt so be careful who you buy from. Its surely been proven time and time again the cheapest ends up costing the most when you find out the cheap stuff just wont work.

 

[pacman45]

I bought them from a local rebuilder that has done other stuff for me in the past. no ebay stuff. i will swap out the glow plugs tomorrrow and see if that makes a difference. should i hear the clicking of the glow plugs though. is there a wait light that i should see on the dash? i have nothing now as far as that goes

 

[cpdenton]

There should be a wait to start light that comes on when the key first comes on.

The relay should click on when the key I'd first turned on, it will stay on for 6-10 seconds or so depending on air temp. Then it and the wait to start light will turn off. After that original burn, the really will click on and off for several seconds in order to help the cylinders warm up quickly for emissions reasons.

If you aren't getting one good long burn at first turn of the key, the glow plugs or harness are no good.

Btw, what year truck? Go into your settings and add a signature including your truck info. Helps us figure out what we are working on!

 

[pacman45]

ok thats not happening right now so I will have to check the bulb and wiring first and switch the glowplugs then ill get back to you guys thanks.

 

[TahoeTom]

Look at the wiring harness connector between the engine and chassis. The two large yellow wires in that plug carry battery current to the gp controller. The connector is inadequate for the current and over time will degrade or melt. Be careful as those wires will be 12V+ all the time if you have a good connection. Check the condition of the connector and if it has deteriorated, you can cut the wires out and splice them outside the connector or put a separate plug on them.
http://www.oilburners.net/forums/sh...Battery-connector&highlight=melted+gp+harness

 

[ironworker40]

Goggle "ford 7.3 idi glow plug troubleshooting" there is a ton of sites with wiring diagrams and other info. If you disconnect the WTS light and put 12v to the wire harness side, the light on the dash should light telling you if it is the build is good. Start there and follow one of the trouble shooting guides either on this site or another. Its a simple system and yes do get rid of those glow plugs and tell the person that sold them to you not to mix and match them again, I don't like that idea. Motorcraft glow plugs only. I have the 93 service manual if you need I can scan some pages and e mail them to you. I made a copy of the trouble shooting guide and sent it to someone on here that was going to scan it and post it, but that never happened and I forgot who I sent it to. Pm me your e mail and phone number Ill give you a call.

 

[subway]

A few major things that will make the glow plug controller short cycle.
1. A bad glow plug or two
2. A bad connection to a glow plug or two.
3. A bad ground on the controller.

The controller reads the total resistance to all of the other glow plugs to know when to shut off power to the glow plugs. If any part of that circuit is faulty it will short cycle. That is why it is so critical to have solid connections in that circuit loop.

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