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01 7.3 hard starts

Squamch

Squamch

Canadian
Joined
May 19, 2020
Member Number
93
Messages
1,513
Loc
republic of Vancouver island
I have an 01 f350 7.3, zf6, 4x4. 468,7xx km on it.

Yesterday morning, and this morning, it started to fire, I let go of the key, and it died. Tried cranking another 7 or 8 times, and it finally lit off. No more than the usual puff of white smoke on start up that it has had for the last 150,000+ that I've owned it. It got UVCH on both sides, as well as 8 new glow plugs last summer. Glow plug solenoid has a strong click and seems to cycle properly.
After the initial issue, it started fine the rest of the day yesterday. Just got to it after work (parked at 645am, got back at 415pm), and it fired up just fine.

No other issues, apart from a leaking front main.

Ideas?
 
Squamch said:
Figuring that despite a strong click it may not actually be making a contact inside?
Click to expand...
Yeah just replaced one last week that was doing that. Pop the hood turn the key to on use a 7/8” wrench box end to short the two big posts out for 20 secs and see if she starts.
 
Last edited:
Before spending a ton of money on glow plug stuff, try Archoil.

It sounds like the same hard start issue a friend of mine had with a 300k (edit: miles ya canuck!) truck. Dumped in a bottle of this and it started like a new one after a couple of long drives to get it circulated. Guess it makes the HPOP system work better, eliminating sticking injectors and valves. For under $50 I'd try it. He sold it about 2 years later, and the next guy who bought it (who we knew) had starting issues like you are describing about 6 months later, so it doesn't last forever.

BTW I was very skeptical of it until I saw it work. He had all the glow plug stuff replaced, and he still had to plug it in under 50F in order to start it. I told him the engine was probably so tired it would need a rebuild, but I doubted it would hurt to dump it in. One of the few things I've seen that actually does what it claimed.
 
So it killed that GPR yesterday.
I swapped it, tested all GPs using a probe, it lit up on all of then. Started fine last night, started fine this morning. Hard/slow crank after work. Even when warm it seems to spin slowly, and is drawing enough juice that my aftermarket gauges forget what colour their backlight should be. That was the clue when it needed batteries last time.
New GPR is still working, only gets 11v, but no appreciable drop across terminals.

Starter on its way out? Something else?
 
Do you have access to an inductive ammeter? I would start by disconnecting one battery and load testing them individually. Then measure the cranking current of the starter. And of course check integrity of all the cable connections, and where they ground to either side of the block.
 
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