I think you might have some issues with your under valve cover harnesses. They can burn up where the connectors plug in and then the power never gets to your glow plugs. How did you test to make sure your relay was working? Not having that one glow plug is not helping your cause either. I would also probably do a compression check while I was messing with that stuff. On the dropping a cylinder on start up I suspect a bad injector.

Tom

 

Is your HPOP reservoir full? After the motor gets cold check the level and see if it goes down. You may have bad injector o-rings leading to a bleed down of HPO. Pull the full lid and see if your filter is black (meaning your leaking past the fuel o-ring). My injectors only had 96k miles on them, the armature tolerances were jacked, all the o-rings were messed up, and ended up having to replace multiple plungers and barrels. Jim at rosewood got my injectors back to me in less then a week.

 

I think his HPOP reservoir level is probably OK in this instance since it starts up good if plugged in. I think you might be dead on with the injectors though.

 

Another thing that can cause a cold start issue are old battery cables. I had that issue and changed plugs, batteries, and it turned out to be the cables. The cables were from the factory and showed no signs of corrosion but were going bad anyways... You might want to look into that as well.

 

Hey, thanks guys!

Yep, been through the usual culprits- the UVCs ohm out good on the GP terminals now that I replaced the GPs and the connectors physically look good, I watched the GP relay on-time at the output terminal of the relay in the dead of last winter and it was almost 2 min. which my Ford service manual says is correct, and I haven't gotten any debris in the filter housing. It did have some grit, like sand or something in it the first time I cleaned it when I first got the truck, but that hasn't come back. I pulled the plug in the HPOP res. after sitting all night and it was nearly full, but not pressurized, though I don't think it should be.

So 66, you would suggest contacting Rosewood about having my injectors rebuilt/upgraded?

Thanks,
Justin

 

What was the voltage on the output of the glow plug relay? Do you have access to scan tool?

Tom

 

Tom, it was a while back when I checked GP relay output voltage so I don't exactly remember, but I'm sure it was within 1 or .75 volts of battery, which now that I think about it, is probably too much drop. I'm gonna recheck all the stuff you guys mentioned more closely including battery cables and connections (good thinking, matty), this weekend. I do have my own Rotunda NGS scanner, but the card I have for it is 99 up F truck. Most of the PIDs and the KOEO and KOER tests work, but when I run Cyl. Contribution (or Buzz test, I don't remember), it comes back with IDM malfunction. I need to get the correct card in it for '96 and test it again before I dump $350 on an IDM I don't need- that money would be better going towards injectors.

Also, I just fixed a badly leaking HPOP o-ring and changed the oil, so I don't know if I'm loosing any oil internally yet till I get a few miles on it.

I'll keep you guys posted on what I find, and thanks for the tips.

Any advice on injectors? Gonna need at least one anyway, seems like time to upgrade!

 

Mine does the same thing. I have worn out injectors with 284,000 on them. I should be installing some newish ones soon I bought off someone on the forums and that should fix mine right up.

Dead cylinders till it warms up, plug in the block heater and it always cranks fine.

I think the easiest test from what people have posted in the forums is if you crank it and its missing on some cylinders and there is no smoke then its bad injectors or at least not firing injectors. The harness can be bad too but my harness is good and my injectors are bad.

Hope that helps some.

 

Yep, thanks Crowz.

It's always done it the exact same way since I bought this truck. I even know which cyl isn't firing till full temp- rear DS, #7?, #8? I know this because it had a busted manifold bolt on that hole, and before I fixed it, you could hear that cyl. start coming to life within about 3 miles on a cold day. Ironically, it's not the cyl. with the busted glow plug! If I don't plug it in at least 15 min. even on a 50* day, cold start, it smokes out the street and may or may not start before I have to get out the charger.

I just checked out the Rosewood site, and I think I'm gonna contact him on having mine rebuilt to stage 1s.

More to come,

J.

 

Hey Cablecactus!

Sounds like you are on the right track with getting a complete set of injectors from a reputable builder. When the armature clearances gets out of spec on the poppet valve, you can get the dead cyl. until the engine warms up enough for the oil to thin and the injector to fire. Many generic injector builders do not even check or address the popet valve.

Sooo.... I am just saying it is reasonable for the dead cylinder when cold is different from the one with the g/p issue.

Not sure what you described about the broken g/p. Is the tip of the g/p broken and the hole welded closed or is the g/p hole in the head welded closed???? On the East coast where you are, you'll never get good cold start without all your g/p's working.

Good luck and keep us posted on your progress!

God bless,

TC

 

Hey Tim,

Actually, the tip of the GP is broken off and stuck in the head, and someone broke the terminal off the top of the GP and welded it closed making it a plug. Before I found this site, I contacted a number of diesel guys about the odds of knocking the tip into the cyl. and fishing it out through the injector hole. Pretty much everyone said I'd end up having to remove the head, and I don't want to have to do that right now.

I think the move is to relocate to a warmer, more rust-free climate!

Justin

 

I hear ya!

Let us know how it runs after you get a good set of injectors in there!

TC

 

Whenever my injectors get here from genie144 Ill post how mine does with them in it. I hope it fixes all my problems....

 

Cool, thanks. I just installed 2 new Interstates that I got a smokin' deal on, and that made a huge difference in being able to get it fired without the heater. Never overlook the obvious- I had a no name battery on one side and the borrowed Optima out of the Buick on the other. Dead cyl. until warmup is still there, but I'm convinced that's injector-related. I'm gonna bite the bullet and pull mine this weekend and send them out for rebuild and 160cc upgrade.

What do you do down there in 'Bama? I've done a good bit of storm work down that way...Good people.

 

Im an isp. The biz I own covers 3 counties so its a small isp

We keep getting fun weather, makes me enjoy my f250 more and more !