Hard Cold Starts

[jckilpat]

Been working in MD and have had a few issues. Few months ago had the fuel bowl heater short out and now with it in the 30's in the morning the 7.3 is real hard to start. Normally taking 4 to 5 cycles of the GPR before it will turn over. And, once it does getting white/gray smoke.

I took the truck to my local Ford guys and here is their analysis. Glow-plugs in #2 and #8 are bad. And, clogged/gummy fuel injectors. To replace all 8 glow-plugs and injectors ..........$5500.

Kick in the teeth is I am sure I can replace all of these myself if I had my truck back at my house in FL. Of course it doesn't get cold enough to have these issues in FL.

Let me know all thoughts and options. Also, if anyone has recently replaced both how long it took them.

Thanks everyone!!!!!

 

[jckilpat]

Oh one more bit on information. The 7.3 has 185,000 miles on it with original glow-plugs and injectors.

 

[Tail_Gunner]

You can test individual glow plugs yourself with an ohm meter thru the wire harness without taking the valve cover off. An open circuit would indicate either a bad glow plug or something else in that circuit.

Don't overlook the glow plug relay. After a while they like to get weak. My old truck started getting hard to start a couple of years after putting new injectors and glow plugs in. I put in a new Stancor HD contactor/relay to replace the old OEM glow plug relay. It made a BIG difference when starting it in the morning.

 

[jckilpat]

I replaced the GPR last spring when I replaced the batteries. But I have thought about doing the Stancor for a long time now.

 

[JLDickmon]

you could replace the glow plugs yourself with a basic of hand tools (wrenches, sockets, ratchets, swivels, extensions) and run some Sea Foam through the fuel tank and try that.. see if you can get it by until you can get home... just a thought...

 

[jckilpat]

Thanks all for the suggestions. I changed the oil, went to 10w30, and ran a can of sea foam through it as well. It was 29 this morning and the 250 started right up. Suppose to be 20 tonight, so we will see how it does in the morning.

 

[iracemine]

yeah, I just put 10w 30 in for the first time ever. cant believe the difference 5w's make! If I knew that stuff existed 5 years ago I would have been using it from the start.