Educate me: '02 7.3 PSD, Glow plugs, white smoke?

[acr_scout]

Hello all,

I have an '02 7.3 PSD. I noticed last year in the fall that unless you let the truck warm up real well it was very loud, gutless and if you got on it right away it would belch out a lot of white smoke, start running rough, then quit. You can turn it back over with the pedal on the floor and it would slowly come to life still belching white smoke and only making 2000RPM in park. Let it warm a little and it is fine. Oh, did I say it is loud? I know my neighbor hate me in the winter when I click-ity-clack down the neighborhood at 4 AM at about 30 mph.

What I have researched so far are the following with no definitive answers
1) plug in at night (Done, easier start but still has to really warm up)
2) HPOP oil change (Seems to be a very subjective topic with no real positive linkage)
3) Change and keep oil level right (I do this anyway but don't see a connection or a difference)
4) Glowplugs and/or relay (just not sure here).

As far as the glow plugs, do they stay on for a while after the truck is running? Will the relay initially work and then fail under a load?

Thoughts and comments please

[Dietoremain]

Wow, how many miles? It sounds like your injectors are just tiredddddddd.

[acr_scout]

This truck has 130K miles.

I read on the net somewhere how to change the injectors. How long will it take to replace if being completely cautious?

[SuperCrutyPS]

Originally Posted by acr_scout

Hello all,

I have an '02 7.3 PSD.

What I have researched so far are the following with no definitive answers
1) plug in at night (Done, easier start but still has to really warm up)
2) HPOP oil change (Seems to be a very subjective topic with no real positive linkage)
3) Change and keep oil level right (I do this anyway but don't see a connection or a difference)
4) Glowplugs and/or relay (just not sure here).

As far as the glow plugs, do they stay on for a while after the truck is running? Will the relay initially work and then fail under a load?

Thoughts and comments please

I would think that if it is plugged in and still needs to run a bit, I'm wondering if it is injectors, not glow plugs. Changing the HPOP oil is one of those things that is arguable. Truth is, the oil in the HPOP gets cycled through the crankcase during engine operation, they are not separate systems.

Have you pulled codes to see if any are stored?
Glow plugs should normally stay on for up to 2 mins with the truck is cold, even though the wait to start light turns off.

[acr_scout]

I have not pulled the codes. I guess I should. I know the last time this had an issue the engine light came on and stayed on for the drive to the store. Went into the store but when I came back out, no light and truck ran fine.

[acr_scout]

Originally Posted by acr_scout

I have not pulled the codes. I guess I should. I know the last time this had an issue the engine light came on and stayed on for the drive to the store. Went into the store but when I came back out, no light and truck ran fine.

I just went and hooked up the pocket code reader, no codes were stored.

Checked both with the ignition on and while running.

[mrwizard116]

I was curious if you found the solution to your problem?

[acr_scout]

Originally Posted by mrwizard116

I was curious if you found the solution to your problem?

Well it seems, when the oil gets old the engine doesn't work as well. I am by no means an expert but apparently the injectors work off of oil pressure. When the oil gets bad it seems to cause this problem. I got the oil changed and it is all better.

Of course you are going to ask how old does the oil get. In my case it is not a straight answer. If there are plenty of good weather days I ride the motorcycle so my wife drives the car. So then it becomes a time thing. The oil can be in there for months, easily 6 months or more. As far as mileage, I try to get 6,000 miles out of each oil change. So if there are a lot of bad weather days, my wife drives the truck and I take the car. This means more miles are put on the truck in a shorter amount of time.

I am still watching it to see if the problem comes back. I will change the oil to see if it corrects it.

Fred

[mrwizard116]

I just did an oil change as we bought this truck used. Watch this video and see if you have seen these problems before. Thanks in advance for any help you can give. 2002 Ford F350 Cold Start Hard Start and White Smoke Need Help!!! - YouTube

[acr_scout]

Originally Posted by mrwizard116

I just did an oil change as we bought this truck used. Watch this video and see if you have seen these problems before. Thanks in advance for any help you can give. 2002 Ford F350 Cold Start Hard Start and White Smoke Need Help!!! - YouTube

That looks pretty similar to what mine would do and it is gutless until it warms up. However, the oil changes seem to help me out.

When mine does that I hold the starter much longer and my foot flat on the floor until it fires then I would feather the throttle sometime holding it wide open but only getting very very low RPMs.

I know the audio in your video can be deceiving but it sounds like yours bangs harder and louder than mine.