HELP!! HARD STARTING WHEN COLD! HELP!!

[IstealUrCar]

Hello everyone, Im new to the boards here, I own a towing business here in Winter Park Florida. I have 1 2001 f450 7.3 Pwerstroke and 1 2002 f450 7.3 Powerstroke. It has been a bit chilly here in florida over the past few weeks. Down in the 30's if you consider that cold. Every cold morning my trucks cranks and cranks but will NOT start easily. I wait for the "wait to start" light to turn off and try it. About 7 or 8 times i cycle this. It will eventually start but i dont see what the problem could be. This happens to BOTH of my trucks. In the summer time NO ISSUES whatsoever. I have tried a shot of starting fluid just to see if that works. and SOMETIMES it helps. I try not to use that stuff at all. It gets to the point when im almost draining the batteries before it will finally start. When they are started they SMOKE like crazy because of the built up fuel in the motor. Once i get them running. They run like a champ. I keep my trucks VERY well maintained. They are definately workhorses. and usually have minimal problems at all. Just basic wear and tear. My 2001 has 330,000 miles on it and my 2002 has 167,000 miles. I just cant figure out where to start looking to solve this starting issue. Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you very much for the help. I look forward to meeting new people here on the boards. Mike

[Dixienormous]

sounds like a glow plug relay and what do you mean hard to start?like slow cranking,which is probably your batteries

[IstealUrCar]

Originally Posted by Dixienormous

sounds like a glow plug relay and what do you mean hard to start?like slow cranking,which is probably your batteries

Hello Dixienormous,Thanks for the reply, I mean HARD TO START as in it just keeps cranking and cranking. Batteries or fully charged and good on both trucks. They are only a few months old. After trying NUMEROUS times the batteries start to run low. Then it decides its gonna start. This happens to both trucks. I just dont get it. Summer time is NEVER an issue. Or once in a while if one truck sits for 2 or 3 days even in the summer its hard to start as far as not getting fuel or something. Talked to a mechanic today and he told me to plug it in when not in use. Makes no sense to me but i will try it. I would think that it should fire up all the time without any problems no matter what kind of weather. I could see if i lived up north or somewhere that is in sb-freezing temps. But in Florida its only been getting down in the 20s or 30s lately. Thanks Mike

[Dietoremain]

DO NOT use starting fluid, you can blow somethin up, not a nice way to start your day... sounds like you need a stancor GPR or new gp's do the relay first its gonna need it eventually anyway..

[Dixienormous]

yea i know it can cold in fl i had frost on my truck one morning,my truck wouldn't start unless i plugged it in checked the glow plugs and they where fine so i replaced my injectors and that solved the problem