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Tough Start This Morning

T

TankerCadaver

Guest
Hey all,

Well, we've had a few cold mornings here in the St. Louis area and for some reason my glow plugs wouldn't light this morning. As such I couldn't get her to fire.

I have an '83 - at least I'm pretty sure it's an '83. I haven't had it long and the seller initially thought it was an '82 but the title says 1983. Anyway I'm just mentioning that - isn't there a few differences in the glowplug relays and/or controllers between these year models?

The previous owner wired in an interrupt switch on the relay mounted on the drivers side fender well. The glow plug controller occasionally turns on the glow plugs long after things have warmed up... sometimes when flying down the interstate! So this interrupt switch prevents the controller from turning the glow plugs on.

I jumped that switch to make sure it wasn't bad - still no glow plugs turning on.

Then I jiggled the wired cap on top of the controller (directly behind the aircleaner assembly) and "click" I heard the relay turn on.

I cycled the ignition another time to get things warmer and she fired right up.

So I'm guessing the glow plug controller is goofed up to begin with (hence the interrupt switch).

I'm also guessing that maybe the connection of the harness and the controller needs to be cleaned/fixed/improved.

The previous owner mentioned that he upgraded the glow plugs with temperature limiting versions... do you think these could be the G60s?

There are glow plug controllers on eBay - does anyone recommend any other retailers?

Any help, observations or advice would be very welcome!!!

THANKS!!!!
 
kennyw said:
Why not go full manual with just a relay?
Click to expand...

I'm a bit of a purist on this sort of stuff... trying to get everything on this rig back to stock and in top running condition.

The previous owner was a bit of a hack with some wiring and accessories. He added an intermittent wiper accessory that has killed the high speed wipers. He added some fog lamps that don't work. He added some extra indicators up front that don't work. It looks like he was getting ready to hack into the tail lights and change the bulbs to the modern high intensity style bulbs. His stereo work was frightening. That's just the electrical stuff!!!

So I'd like to just get everything back to the way it was supposed to be. Then I'll start on doing some mods the right way.
 
Volare said:
I replaced mine with this one

http://www.partsamerica.com/Product...IE&MfrPartNumber=SD27901&PartType=407&PTSet=A


I have a spare one on the shelf.
if you cant find it locally let me know and I will buy it and ship it to you. You just cover the cost of the relay. I'll ship it for free.
Click to expand...

I think my relay is just fine.

My guess is that the controller is a bit bonked - it turns the glow plugs on after things get warmed up sometimes and cycles on and off erratically at times.
 
Volare said:
that is the controller / relay. It's the same thing.
Click to expand...

Not on an 82-83... 84 and later has a single unit mounted on the back of the head. The relay looks like a ford starter relay and the controller is a box under the dash.
 
kennyw said:
Not on an 82-83... 84 and later has a single unit mounted on the back of the head. The relay looks like a ford starter relay and the controller is a box under the dash.
Click to expand...

Well, maybe I'm confused... easy enough, I'm a noob at this diesel engine stuff... what is the threaded cylindrical part that has a 6(?) wire plug connector that is behind the air cleaner assembly? That's the connection I jiggled a bit and got the glow plugs to light.

Is it technically the glow plug controller sensor maybe? I may not be calling it by the full correct name.

I believe my relay/solenoid switch is on the driver's side inner fenderwell.
 
That's the controller and I believe there is a temp inhibit switch as part of it. That round thing sits right on a coolant port, so it's getting true coolant temp. Over a certain coolant temp the GP's should not light at all.

It could be poor connections, which it sounds like...or the switch itself could be going south. I'd unplug it and check for corrosion.

The solenoid on the fender is the slave portion. The controller grounds the small blue wire when the engine is cold, this trips the relay and sends power to the glow plugs. To go full manual (just FYI, I know you don't want to do that) a switch is run inside the truck using the small light blue wire. The other side of the switch goes to ground. Super simple...

Rene
 
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