Glow Plugs??

[MATREDGT]

I have been doing some searching on here tonight but I haven't found exactly what I am looking for. In short my truck is extremely hard to start when the temps drop below 20*. I went ahead and checked the voltages at the relay and the relay is working. My inital amp draw on the relay is about 185 amps and it steadily drops down to about 90-95 amps where it finally levels off.

Next I went ahead and did an ohm reading on all of the glow plugs via the connector on top of the heads. This is where my first question comes in. While reading through the many threads on here I have gotten a couple different acceptable ranges for the readings. Some have been saying that .2-2 ohms and others have said .1-2 ohms. Now I know .1-.2 isn't much of a difference but it might be the difference between starting easily or not. So which is it? Is .1 ohm still a good glow plug? I also had two plugs that read 0 ohms so I would assume those are bad too, correct?

I just found out about using a test light to check the glow plugs, but it is really cold out and I don't feel like going out there again. So I will do that tomorrow.

Now I do know that I have at least two glow plugs that are bad (over 2 ohms) so I would really like to just replace all 8 of them since I'm gonna be in there already. I know that everyone is most likely going to say to use the OEM replacements but I do know of one member on here that used a set he got off of EBAY. Are these ones junk or are they something to consider? I checked on Autozones website and they have the ZD11 listed but there is no price listed and it doesn't say if you can get it in the stores or online. So I'll have to call tomorrow and check on those.

For some reason the link I posted is automatically inserting additional text in the address so it doesn't work. Just copy/paste this address to see the glow plugs I was referring to: eBay Motors: 7.3L FORD POWERSTROKE DIESEL GLOW PLUGS (G138) (item 230219098313 end time Feb-11-08 18:33:04 PST)

Thanks guys,
Mike

[Southpaw]

I can't speak on those glow plugs, never heard of them.
Th ZD-11's have been discontinued at Autozones. Some stores still have some on hand, and if they do the price will show up as $.01. Yes a penny. Read more about that HERE.
As far as your hard start goes, I don't think 2 bad glow plugs would cause an extremely hard starting situation? I could be wrong, but we'll keep this bumped up for you till a tech comes along.

Are you plugging it in?
Does it help?

Good Luck

[mschn99]

0 ohms is a bad glow plug...over 2 ohms is a bad glow plug....i wouldnt worry about the .1 or .2 difference in opinion......

i would never use a glow plug in a ford that wasnt made by buero... (thats also the company that makes them for motocraft). You can also get buero glow plugs from autozone..

i may have spelled buero wrong.. but at least you get the point as far as the name...

[99bigred]

is it possible the 2 0ohm ones could be cause by a bad UVC?

[MATREDGT]

Having the truck plugged in helps tremendously. It will usually start pretty good when plugged in, but I do have to cycle the glow plugs twice to get it to start fairly quick. I also believe that my batteries are at the end of their life too.

Thanks,
Mike

[99bigred]

you might want to start by getting new batteries, if you want by far the best battery for any vehicle especially a diesel then id get thesePC2150 S and PC2150 T - Odyssey batteries
they are a bit pricey but they will out last any other battery and it has way more cranking power then even an optima.
im not 100% sure but i think that battery will fit, if not you may have to get a little bit smaller one. I have one in our sandrail with a semi high compression 4cyl and a small 13lb odyseey will start it and crank it forever (even used it in my toyota pickup for a couple weeks when my optima went out).
good luck