Hard startup

[Joe0816]

I am having one hell of a time starting my truck. Even as 36F out. It cranks and cranks and idles worse then anything I have ever heard. It when its plugged in, I have no problem. And ideas other then keep it plugged in all the time?

[tempuser]

Does it smoke white when cranking? Maybe oil related. Try un plugging icp and running it. Have you scanned it with AE or a snap on? Checked fuel pressure at fpr? When is the last time you changed the oil. Checked oil level in hpop sump?

[Joe0816]

Smokes like a mother, and oil changed every 3,000 with rotella. What's an icp?

[jesilvas]

You need to read up on HEUI first.
How HEUI works and best to convert

Now, I bet you're using 15W40 oil, which is fine. Good for changing so often too. 10W40 or 5W40 would help most likely, but that would kind of mask the issue. 15W40 is perfectly fine for 36*F.

So, this is what you need to do next: being plugged in easy starting is symptamatic of bad glow plug system.
Winter Operation, Hard Starting, Hissing Sound Etc...
Troubleshooting GPR & GP's
Once you test all that stuff, THEN you can go from there.
You batteries need to be 850CCA minimum, with all good, clean cables/connections also.

[tempuser]

Icp sensor is on the driver side head towards the front of the truck. Its on the "v" side of the head 3 wire pigtail. Unplug it and see if it makes a difference.

Could be uvch under valve cover harness. 94-97 engines have two connectors on the outside of the valve cover (four total). Unplug each one and look for melted plastic. These are known to melt and make these trucks run real bad. There are many other connectors under the VC that can go bad.

How long does it run real bad after starting?

Have you checked you glow plugs and glow plug relay?

If bad only use motorcraft GP and stancor or western snowplow relay.

[Joe0816]

Everything is good under valve cover. Nothing melted either, just replaced a fuel injector harness that was melted 1,000 miles ago as well as glow plugs replaced. Gpr is newer. Runs horrible for about 20 seconds. But that's after an extremely bad cold start.

[tempuser]

20 seconds? Its a diesel.

Could still be something wrong though but 20 seconds is not bad.

[tempuser]

How long does it crank? What kind of gp and gpr did you use?

[jesilvas]

So you're thinking the GPR, GPs, and UVCH are all working right. I'd still check em. Doesn't take long. What about batteries?

[Joe0816]

Cranks for quite a while when its cold. Gp are autolite and i don't know about the gpr, the last owner replaced it last summer. Batteries are fine. It did it with my brothers brand new batteries too.