tried starting it when cold (45 degrees) wouldn't. jumped it later in the afternoon and got it going although it was a bear.drove all day just fine .tried starting this morning and wouldn't.wait to start light only stays on for a second.I think its the relay but don't know where it is or what it looks like.thanks

 

A burned out glow plug could cause the same thing. If the plug is bad, the controller will sense the resistance and think they are all hot enough and stop heating.

 

check the glow plug relay, it should be right on the passenger side fender under the hood or on the top of the motor, easy to find it looks just like a starter solenoid. replace that first because its cheap. if not replace glow plugs, garuntee one of the two will fix the problem

 

So how do you know if its bad?

I'm having the same problem as the OP..but the glow plug wait to start light stays on a bit longer than his..

I thought it was the batteries or the cable that hooks up to the battery..you can pull it right off the battery. Not sure what to do now..if its the relay or a glow plug how do you know if their bad to warrant a replacement?

EDIT: I guess I can count out the Glow Plugs as the problem..I found all 8 (the old ones) in a new box of AC Delco Glow Plugs that I'm guessing the owner replaced. I can tell of course that their the old ones because their all black.

I guess that leaves the batteries/battery cable, or the glow plug relay..the relay is a fuse right? I'm looking at Autozone.com now and they don't have the relay? Just the controller and glow plugs..

I tried starting it earlier after it sitting for almost a day, and now when I try to start it, I just get a clicking noise and the lights on the truck are really dim..usually that means the battery is to dead to do anything. Is there anything that would cause this other than that? I'm guessing battery/battery wire or alternator..to get those checked you need to take it off right? To have them measure to see if its charging the battery..

A buddy of mine said its probably the battery cable is to loose and sucking the battery dry?

 

The glow plug relay is almost identical to a starter solenoid. I found the relay on autozone for your truck, part number F494. The odd thing is it shows the same part for the GP controller which isn't right.

I mounted a small light in my dash that is wired to the GP relay to let me know how long it's energizing the glow plugs. If the light fails to come on I know the relay or possibly the controller is bad.

 

The wait to start glow plug light DOES come on though.

Its like the battery won't hold a charge..or is not getting charged. Do I have to take the alternator off for them to test it?

 

Some places have testers that will check the charging system, but like the one we use, it wont always tell you exactly what is wrong, just that you have a problem. The best way is to remove it and have it tested on a bench tester. Have you tried jumping the starter solenoid to make sure it's not bad? You mentioned a loose terminal earlier, have you fixed that yet? You may want to clean them all as well. I just went through that, my terminals looked clean but I would only get a click when I tried to start it.

 

I took it into work (I work at a Kia dealership) and had a buddy that's a tech there hook it up to their tester and both batteries are garbage (the main battery is complete trash) its actually leaking to..its a AC Delco battery and the window on the top of the battery is red to.

The previous owner was a douche bag..he had marine batteries on it ..with 500 or so CCA rating.

Both negative battery cables are trash..so that will need to be replaced..I'll probably just buy all new cables while I'm at it.

The power steering bottle didn't have a cap on it..so it has some water in it..going to go buy a cap today and then on Monday when I get paid get some new power steering fluid (1 gallon)? and have my buddy at work do a machine flush on it and put the new PS fluid in.

Also will have to do a oil change and oil filter..any recommendations for what brand and how many quarts this truck takes? Its 15w 40 for 6.9L non-turbo right?

 

Get a motorcraft filter, you should be able to use FL-1995 which is for a powerstroke. It's about double the size so you will have to add an extra quart of oil, 11 quarts total. Make sure you fill the filter with oil before installing. As far as oil, you will have to see what your truck likes. You may notice your motor consumes more of one brand of oil than another. Just get something of good quality in a 15-40W and see how it goes. I used Valvoline for my first change and had to add 3 quarts over 5k miles. I do have a small leak but I thought that was pretty good. I just changed to Castrol last night so I will see how well it does.

 

Don't you mean 15W 40?