99 7.3L starting issue

[white329.bw]

My mother inlaws husband has a 99 f250 with a 7.3L psd. With some reading here on the forum had him change the cam position sensor and he changed fuel filter as well. His problem is a no start condition. After waiting for glow plug light goes out, engine cranks fine, no smoke during 1st cranking. Key off and wait for glow plug light to go off engine will start and run fine. During the 2nd cranking and right after it starts there's a small puff of white/blue followed by black smoke. Could it be a fuel pump issue, an injector sticking open, can the high pressure oil pump cause a starting issue? Any help would be appreciated,thanks.

[jesilvas]

All those things could cause an issue.
A stuck injector would be noticeable almost all the time.
You won't know for sure until you get something like AutoEnginuity to monitor things during cranking, but there might be a a HPO leak cause not enough pressure at the first start up. But once it builds it has enough by the second time to fire off.
How long is he cranking? And if you shut it off, will it crank right back up?

[white329.bw]

1st cranking is like 20 to 30 secs.2nd cranking is around 10 to 15 secs. I should of said this in 1st post, I changed glow plugs and harness/gasket bout 2 months ago.(3 of the 8 were working). He said it just starting haveing this starting issue last week.

[jesilvas]

That's a dang long time.
Did he do anything different lately to it?
If there's no smoke or diesel smell on the first cranking, I'd think no injection. Does it have any smell to it really? If not, it'd be either no HPO or fuel. I'd drain the fuel filter bowl, pull the filter, turn key on but don't start. The pump should cycle and almost perfectly fill up the bowl. Then, I'd also pull the plug on top of the HPOP reservoir and make sure the oil is within a half inch or so of the top.

[white329.bw]

No smell of fuel during the cranking. We did take out the plug, it was close to the top. Ill have him do fuel filter thing. If it doesn't fill then its most likely fuel pump right? Thanks for the help

[jesilvas]

It could be something during injection, either high pressure oil or fuel.
How does it generally run and drive?

[white329.bw]

he says it normallty runs fine. after it starts up everything is ok.

[jesilvas]

Batteries or battery/starter connections are always something to check no matter what.
Without getting some monitoring solution to watch the ICP/IPR while cranking along with tach reading, and a gauge to watch fuel pressure, it's a lot of shots in the dark.
Is this a cold only issue or cold/hot/anytime.