Suddenly not starting, kinda stuck

[Cubey]

Ugh, my truck is being a pain this morning. Its even very cold, around 38-40, but very windy and a little rainy. It does not want to start, even running the glow plugs 15 seconds 3 times. My electric fuel pump is punping, i get fuel out of the air valve at the fuel filter. It has started to catch, like maybe on 1 cylinder a few times but falls back to nothing. Im guessing my glow plug connections are just getting worse. Unfortunately, there are no electric outlets where im parked at a Walmart. I carry 175 feet of extension cords, not that it helps me today. It's not sloping enough to coast closer to the store where there might be outlets. It's not supposed to be warmer until tomorrow. I guess I'm stuck here until then. Roadside can't help other than tow me to a repair shop. I guess it would help, i could plug in the block heater but that's a lousy use of roadside.

Any possible suggestions on other things to check? It was fine yesterday but it was 60 degrees or better.

 

[Cubey]

Low and behold, something finally worked and it started. I had literally tried a dozen times or more before I posted. Maybe it had air intrusion for some odd reason.

I'm starting to think I need to get a bigger 2000w generator for the benefit of running the block heater in an emergency.

I certainly gave those new Walmart batteries a workout today, but they didn't let me down!

 

[hesutton]

Glad to hear you got it going. Now to find out what happened....

I always have a can of starting fluid behind the seat just in case. Not a fan of using it routinely, but in a case like yours, you bet your butt I'd use it.

Heath

 

[Cubey]

I think it was air intrusion, at least partly. Where, I'm not sure. I know it had fuel flowing at the fuel filter.

When I accelerated out of the parking space, it did one "surge" like these tend to do with excessive air. But it only did it that once.

I've had those air surges at came and went at highway speeds in Wyoming where it was like the wind was causing it. That was well over a year ago, not recent.

I replaced the o-rings within the last two years as they were leaking. It could be they need it again. I'll check around for leaks on a nicer day than today.

I could feel heat at at least some of the glow plugs and voltage drops when they are activated.

It has been starting fine (2-3 times) since, not even needing the glow plugs at all since it's been warmed up. It fires right up, no wasted turnovers, so it's not a constant air intrusion, if that's what it was.

 

[nelstomlinson]

I thought air intrusion resulted in an easy start, run for five seconds or so, then die and a very hard restart. Could it be that your fuel shutoff solenoid was sticking closed, or not getting voltage to open?

 

[riphip]

Hopefully you have a spare starter behind the seat. Getting to be a load on that starter with all the cranking. Just be ready. I keep extra one in my truck & I'm not having problems

 

[Cubey]

Hopefully you have a spare starter behind the seat. Getting to be a load on that starter with all the cranking. Just be ready. I keep extra one in my truck & I'm not having problems

I was gentle on the starter, actually. It never ran for more than 5-7 seconds. I gave it lots of breaks. The glow plugs are what got the workout. It's a newer starter too, less than 2 years old.

The one the truck had when I got it, something mysteriously physically damaged the wire connection going in to it, causing it to act totally dead suddenly. I got towed to a shop and they figured it out because they really didn't want to have to push this heavy ass truck into the garage bay where they could work on it. They managed to hack the starter good enough somehow to get it to start to drive it in.

 

[Cubey]

I thought air intrusion resulted in an easy start, run for five seconds or so, then die and a very hard restart. Could it be that your fuel shutoff solenoid was sticking closed, or not getting voltage to open?

I'm no expert on that area of the fuel system, but isn't it the wire connection that sorta sticks almost straight up, but kind of leaning towards the firewall? I had to replace that blade terminal connector a while back. I put a new crimp one on. I had wiggled and reconnected it several times to be sure that wasn't the issue since it did cross my mind. I don't think it was that, but I suppose it could have been.

 

[nelstomlinson]

Cubey, I'm no expert either. I do know these intermittent problems are a nightmare every time.

 

[Cubey]

Should it happen again, I'll try gently hitting it with a screwdriver handle. Maybe its getting weak. I had to replace the relay/solenoid on my glow plug controller for that very reason. It would intermittently not activate, even with a manual push button. Tapping it with something would make it work again for a while.

Maybe I bumped the shutoff enough when I pulled off the air cleaner and fiddled with the glow plug connections to make it work, since it did start shortly after. I can't recall if it did on the first try or not.

An F150 4.6L I had, the idle air control solenoid was going out and needed to be hit a few times if it didn't want to start.

So yeah, that is a good theory, its probably just a solenoid like any other that may getting weak.

 

[Thewespaul]

The shutoff solenoids themselves are wayyy overbuilt for this aplication and rarely fail. The wiring to that solenoid is not, the prong that is opens the solenoid is the one closer to the radiator, the rear prong is for the cold advance. If you are ever concerned the solenoid isn’t working unplug the prong with the key on and plug it back in. You should hear an audible click as the solenoid opens.

 

[Cubey]

Yep, it must be glow plugs. Or more specifically I suspect, glow plug connections.

Same problem this morning. The fuel cutoff does click if reconnected with the key on, so that's ruled out.

I went in to Walmart and bought a can of the SuperTech starting fluid.

I already have a manual button for the glow plugs, but to be doubly safe, I disconnected the ground connection from the switch to prevent an accident.

The glow plugs hadn't been run for 15-20 minutes by the time I got back to the truck, so they were cold by that point.

I removed the air cleaner lid and gave it one quick spray into the intake, then replaced the lid and bolt. It definitely made a difference but just wasn't enough. I went back and gave it 3 quick bursts, then replaced the lid again. With that, it started roughly/weaky, but got it it running.

So yeah, there you have it. It must be that not enough glow plugs are heating. Unless Motorctaft glow plugs burned out after a year, it's probably the rotten old glow plug bullet connectors.

 

[Thewespaul]

They could be burnt out, you really don’t need to glow them after 5-7 second cranks so it could be possible they overheated and you have a few weak ones.

 

[Cubey]

Yeah it's possible, I guess.

After needing the starting fluid, I drove 3 miles at 30-35mph with a few stop signs to a laundromat. It sat for a couple hours there and needed the glow plugs to start again but they did their job that time.

I will pull the glow plugs and test the resistance on them in a couple weeks, weather permitting, when I have a relative's driveway to park in.

I do know that the plastic on most of the connectors are long gone. The remaining ones are crumbling. The bare connectors look oxidized.

 

[Cubey]

Here's a long video I recorded this morning before I went in and bought the starting fluid. It was uploading while I was in the store.

It's mostly running the glow plugs with rests between. 15s is the max I run them.

Nothing really to see or hear I guess, but it was uploaded by the time I got back to the truck with the starting fluid, so there it is.

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