Cold Start Woes

[burrfree]

I'm in Michigan where it's hitting the 30's at night now. My 2001 7.3 doesn't want to start in the morning unless it's plugged in. It will just crank and crank as if glow plugs aren't doing their job. Plugged in, it fires right up. How do I check to see glow plugs are working?

[85_305]

PSD's HATE HATE HATE starting in the cold. My old PSD would be a bastard trying to crank in the 30's/40's. Try cycling the gpr 2-3times before cranking.

[ridiculously_necessary]

Troubleshooting GPR & GP's

check your glows and relay. .6 to 1.2 or 2.0 ohms iirc for the glows. if your relay is out get a stancor 586-902 or 586-903 as a replacement. they are better than stock.

make sure your batteries are in top shape, test your alternator as well. also be sure your starter spins well. they get tired after a while, if thats the case get the dbelectrical gear reduction starter. finally, with the temps you'll see up there you might consider going to a 10w-30 oil for winter...

where i am our average winter temps vary from single digits to 30ish. i rarely haev a problem. i may have to idle about 1k for a min or two, but i think thats because im running the 15w40 oil.

[wiyrs]

Originally Posted by 85_305

PSD's HATE HATE HATE starting in the cold. My old PSD would be a bastard trying to crank in the 30's/40's. Try cycling the gpr 2-3times before cranking.

thats useless.. the GPs stay on for up to 2 mins after the light go's off, so cycling them just wares out the relay faster.. 30* the GP's will stay on for 2 mins

[Dave]

Dont even bother testing the GPR just replace it. And load test your batteries.

Cycling the key is useless

[Goose]

Get a stancor relay and like dave said make sure your batteries are charged also you can plug it in on a timer these bad boys get expensive to keep pluggied in its around 1200 watts

[zpd307]

just had to replace my relay.......

[ram360]

where are you guys getting the best price on the stancor relays?

[chrispaine]

also clean your battery connections, made a big difference on mine and they didn't even look dirty!

[ridiculously_necessary]

Originally Posted by ram360

where are you guys getting the best price on the stancor relays?

newark and alliedelec. one of the two i think has insane shipping charges that they dont post until after purchase. hopefully thats been changed...