hard start, no power. new to powerstrokes

[hillbillybob]

My dad picked up a 95 F-350 4x4 crew cab at an auction a couple months ago and hasn't really had time to work on it so he asked if I was interested in it and I said sure! I haven't had a chance to really get to look at the truck a whole lot myself yet because its an hour and a half away. My dad, who is an extremely good mechanic and knows some about powerstrokes as he also has a 97 F-250 HD, said that if its not plugged in it that it takes several minutes of cranking to start. Even plugged in it takes 15-20 seconds of cranking after the wait to start light shuts off. After its warm it takes 5 seconds to start. He checked the glow plug relay and all glow plugs and they operate fine. And he replaced either one or both valve cover gaskets. He said that he also replaced a fuel pressure regulator spring that's prone to breaking? The truck has 160k on it and he said when he got it that it had some nasty way past due oil in it. So he also changed it out first thing and it didn't help. Can you use seafoam in the crankcase oil to maybe help clean it out from previous owner? From what little knowledge I have of how these motors work it sounds like the high pressure oil pump is weak and takes a bit of cranking to build enough pressure. Is the spring he replaced part of the ipr valve? Im getting very anxious to get this truck up and running. Thanks.

[hillbillybob]

Where else should I look for issues? I have very little knowledge of these motors and diesels in general?

[glovemeister]

I may be heading up to Spokane here in the next week to pickup some parts for my project car. I may be able to swing by.

If I had to guess he replaced the spring in the fuel bowl, specifically the fuel pressure regulator.

Do you have a scan tool where you can monitor the injection control pressure at startup and idle?

I would highly suggest that you don't use Seafoam in your crank case. It is one thing to use it in the diesel fuel, even then I suggest it only as a thing to do when changing fuel filter.

I suppose you could add it into the crank case, but really these injectors are complex and expensive beasts. From my understanding they don't like exposure to alcohol which is one of the main ingredients in Seafoam. With it in the oil it is what is pressing down the poppet on the injector.

I would instead run some cheapo oil in it to clean it all out.

I'm sure he knows diesels soot up oil real quick. Only way to extend that total black time is to run a good filter such as the huge donaldson elf-7405, which is what I run, as well as a good oil like Rotella 15w40. It has kept my oil honey colored for far longer.