97 E350 - no start

[u2slow]

Initially this became a problem about 3 years ago. Back then, I rewired the glow plugs for manual control, and that provided immediate relief. 10 seconds of glow and off it went.

Over the rest of that year (and winter came) that hard start crept back. Even with the block heater. I realized in all this hard starting that the hpop reservoir was getting drained. That led me to changing the lpop. I put in a Melling. Slight improvement on lube oil pressure. Fwiw, old pump looked fine. I can still drain the hpop reservoir sometimes when its really being stubborn.

Nowadays it needs to have the block heater plugged in year round to have ANY chance of starting. Glow plugs draw about 125 amps to start and taper down to ~100amps after 10 seconds. Those are the same amp-draw specs I recorded 3 years ago.

Any suggestions?

[Patrick Feeley]

Possibly the injector poppets are getting worn? I know my 94's were on the ragged edge (or worse with many at 0.0015" clearance) and it was doing the same sort of thing. Cheers!

[u2slow]

worn poppets... does that mean the injectors dribble instead of spray?

[Big Jeremy]

I am having similar starting issues.

My truck needs to be plugged in year round to start (within the last year), mostly in the mornings. Sometimes it will fire up unplugged and other times it won't.
I have been working out of town a lot, so the truck is at home not being driven by the wife and so I drive it when I'm home. The truck won't be started in three weeks and fire right up but the following morning or even later that day, no start, just turns over and pumps white smoke out the tail pipe, give it an hour and its good to go. I've read here some ware that these trucks should start unassisted to about 40* or lower and that it may be time to replace the injectors. Is there any other "maintenance" thing that can be done to the starting system / injectors to help solve this problem other than the glow plug system?

Sorry for hi-jack but it sounds like we may be having similar issues.


Big Jeremy

[Patrick Feeley]

Good Starter and batteries are essential. Check all the battery connection ends to make sure they are clean and tight. Cheers!

[u2slow]

I redid all my wiring with #4/0 cable. Starter has been changed. I knew early on this thing needs every amp and volt it can get... and its still not happy.

My hard start is consistent. And the colder, the worse it is. Started yesterday with block heater on for about an hour beforehand. Today, no block heater... no go. To top it off, locked keys inside. Glad I have beer in the fridge.