OK. can any of you guys help me? early 1999 250 psd. Its freakin cold and snowing like crazy here. I went outside and started it up it took like 5 cranks to get it started. I replaced the GPR and it helped a little, but i was wondering if it was the batterys, was wondering if i replaced the batteries if it would cure the problem. the battery on the drivers side is the stock battery and on the passenger side it is an optima red top. It says it has 800 cold cranking amps on the top and it says 120 min. reserve capacity I dont know what this means, is it big enough for this truck, as far as size goes it is way smaller than the other battery.

Would e be better to jsut replace the glow plugs and if so has any had this done and how much did it cost?

 

Hook up a nice big battery charger/starter... see how it starts next time. The additional CCAs from both batteries and the charger should make that thing do cartwheels if it has good batteries.

However, if your batteries are that bad, it won't start it... but it obviously still starts.

 

IF i try that and it starts the same as always, it probably needs new glow plugs then wright?

 

Any chance you could make a video of it starting up? Remember, its a diesel and they're not too happy when they're cold.

 

ill give it a shot, not real making familiar with vids and posting them but my buddy is, we will make one and try to get it on here as soon as possible, what i dont understand is buddys 7.3 will crank and fire like a charm, mine, like a wet firecracker. Myself, i have never seen one crank like this, but from reading posts at the diesel stop it seems to be common.

The truck jsut hit 130000 seems to early in its life to be cranking like this. Also, buddies dad has a 99 PSD, with 273,000, it also fires like a charm.

 

An 800CCA battery is ok, but its about the smallest I'd want on the truck. These take ALOT of juice to crank fast enough.


To give a better diagnosis we need some info here. You say you had to crank it 5 times. Did it sputter or even try to start any of those times? Did you turn the key to the on position and wait for the wait to start light to go out? When you turned the key on all 5 times did you have a wait to start light each time? How fast is it turning over? How cold was it? How long had it been sitting? Was there any smoke from the tailpipe? What color was it?


All of these are the background info needed to give a better idea about whats going on. Its not a good idea to mix your batteries like that on a parallel system. If you replace one and the other is marginal it will drag down the new battery and ruin it as well. The rule of thumb is to replace both batteries at the same time. When mine get too weak in my 250 they come out and then go into other gas vechiles as there is LOTS of life left in them, just not enough for the PSD. Most likely your glow plugs have taken a dump from age and one or two bad ones. The thing with glow plugs is that if one goes bad it takes all the others with it over time, as well as the relay. The replacement cost won't be cheap at a shop as the CAC tubing and valve covers must come off. Plus they can be siezed in there and then fall apart on removal. Its typically a 1-2 day job depending on how much they fight. You can do it yourself, just be careful not to have a tip break off and fall down in the cylinder. If you do the head has to come off.

 

O.K. here we go... IT had set overnight, the batteries were in there when I bought it, so i have no clue how long they were in there.

First crank-waited till light went off and it started like the batttery was almost dead very, VERY slow, and not even a hint of starting.

Second crank- turned key off and turned it back on waited till light went off. Cranked a little faster, but still no start.

Third-fouth crank turned key off, turned back on waited till light went off, cranked much faster and almost fired up both times as long as i kep they key turned, as soon as I let go of the key it stopped.

Fith crank- equally as fast as third and fourth, but this time it fired, and idled ruff as all deisels do in cold weather. Absolutely poured white smoke didnt see any blue, but whose to say its not there.

If its a little warmer it will fire first try but will still white smoke like a mother trucker. When it was eighty degrees fired first time every time with No white smoke.

WTF?

 

Just a little comparison my uncles old ford 4000 tractor set six months and fired easier than my truck...lol ...aww

 

Sounds like a battery problem to me. Get some yellow tops in there...

 

may sound dum... but whats the diff... Sorry.

 

The difference between starting a cold diesel engine and a warm (hot) diesel engine is the following.

Since diesel engines ignite the fuel by compression rather than a spark, the area in which the atomized fuel is sprayed into the cylinder needs to be at a decent temperature for compression to ignite the fuel. If you think about what occurs, it is technically called spontaneous combustion inside of the cylinder. Hence the knock in a diesel. The diesel is actually exploding in the cylinder. When you first start a diesel engine, say from sitting over night, it might take an extra few revolutions to start merely because it needs to rebuild compression and to get the proper amount of fuel into the cylinders. However, when it is cold, you should always wait until the dash tells you when it is OK to start the engine. This is because of the glowplugs. The glowplugs essentially warm up the air leading into each cylinder, making it possible for the diesel to properly combust. This usually takes from as little as 15 seconds to 1 minute or more, depending the ambient temperature and type of engine. Mind you, having good batteries is the key to a diesel engine. When you are waiting to start the engine, and say the glowplugs are running for 30 seconds, they take a huge amount of energy, so if it is really cold out, it might be enough to drain a battery if and only if the battery is a weak battery. Also, you could have bad glowplugs too. But if the engine is hard to start consistantly when it is cold, it also could be the fuel is not adapted for colder climates. A diesel engine is entirely different than a gasoline engine. However, when it is warmed up, obviously the diesel will combust with any slight amount of compression, making it a lot easier to start.

 

OHH... also, whats the difference in the red top and yellow top. Someone told me to get the batteries from wal-mart.Don't know if its true but they say if you get the 3 year warranty you can take them back in 2 and half and get new ones, no questions asked.

Is there something that heats the intake air on these engines, or is this the glow plug.

 

A Red top battery is a starting battery. A yellow top battery is a deep cycle battery that is meant to be drained down and still have enough juice left to start.

 

Yep, sounds like you're going to be making a trip to the store for a set of batteries. I would look for something close to 900CCA for your new batteries. You ideally want more than 800CCA since you're in cold weather.


Now since diesels run on compression alone you really don't have to slow the engine down much during cranking to cause it not to build enough compression to start easily. Mine was turning SLIGHTLY slower when I changed mine over. Afterwards it was like night and day as far as cranking speed. If it just barely turns over you're pretty much done.

 

well, well, took the ole truck to the doctor today for his input and heres what he says... 2 new batteries, a new harness under the valve covers for the glow plugs, and a tube that comes from sensor, cant remember what he called it, it comes off a sensor, he said it gets clogged up.

ha ha thats the good news... he says he thinks he can here a bearing whining in the turbo he said he will let me know the full extent of the situation tuesday.

zaairman.. sorry i couldnt post vid kinda computer illiterate