the dreaded powerstroke no start cold
 

One of our deliver trucks is a 2002 f250 with a 7.3. If the temperature gets down to 60 it is almost impossible to start unless the block heater is plugged in and if it goes below 50 it will not start at all without the heater. I have checked the glow plug system all possible ways. I checked the relay and am getting power through it. I pulled the harness at the valve cover and checked each with the ohm meter and fed power to each one through an ammeter and put a meter between the relay and harness and the power drain is correct. The intake grid heater relay has been replaced and the power drain is good there also. I have replaced the IPR valve and ICP sensor and CPS. There were 2 bad injectors that were bad and have been rebuilt and all injector o rings replaced.The original engine had low compression in #8 and a bad HPOP so a used engine was installed. The original engine had the same cold start problem before the HPOP went bad. When the temp is warm enough to start without the block heater it has a bad miss until it warms up and no smoke but with the heater plugged in it runs smooth from startup. There are no codes now. I have been pulling my hair out trying to figure this one out.

could it be a bad ground between the engine and chassis?

I don't think so. I cleaned all the grounds when I put in the used engine. I could do a ground voltage test to double check though.

Dang Grady that's crazy, on second thought probably not a ground if the current is up where its supposed to be at the glow plugs.
Could it be fuel lift pump related because it did this with the old engine to?

When the HPOP was going bad it acted like a fuel problem so I checked the fuel pressure and it was 60 psi I think. It has been a little while since I checked so I can't swear to it being 60 but I checked it against the specs at the time and it was right. I also dropped the tank and cleaned and checked the pickup. All was well in the tank also. It seems if it was a fuel pressure problem plugging in the block heater wouldn't help but as long as it is plugged in it starts fine.

its the ecm ford needs to take care of it uncle had same prob for fixed it 5 or 6 times they eventually put a new ecm in it it had something to do with the plug module

We have had it checked by one dealer and a local shop and they said the ecm checked OK but it is worth another try. My impression was that the dealer we took it to didn't know a thing about diesels.

Does the 2002 have a wait to start light? How long do you have to wait and is it cycling the correct amount of seconds?

Yes it does. It also has a light for the intake grid heater. The glow plug light stays on for usually 6 to 12 seconds but the relay keeps the glow plugs on after the light goes off for up to 2 minutes depending on the temp. The intake grid light stays on for about 10 seconds longer than the glow plug light.

I don't know enough about the powerstroke to help, maybe you could post something on this thread:
https://www.dieselbombers.com/ford-t...pecialist.html

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Grady I checked on the last activity from Mike the master Tech and it was back in October. I don't know if he is still doing the free assistance.

Anybody got any ideas about this powerstroke?