okay gang, i've got an 89 7.3 liter that i'm working on that has a hard starting problem after it sits for three to four days in summer weather. customers glow plug relay, and glow plugs are working fine, her fuel filter was replaced two days ago, and she's got brand new batteries under the hood, and we installed an injector fuel line kit less than a year ago. i think the problem has something to do with fuel delivery, once it starts it runs great. my question is, has anyone else encountered this problem, is there some kind of a check valve running between the fuel tank and the injectors possibly. thanks.

 

no check valve, but inside the filter head are a bunch of orings for the fuel heater. any of them could be letting air in.

 

nice, any suggestions for checking them out?

 

i would just replace them. they are cheap insurance anyway. they are 22 years old right now. how brittle were your return line orings? .

 

not a bad idea another thing do you now how many amps are sposed to be going to each glow plug, im starting to revert back to the glow plugs, plus once upon a time someone else busted the head of the glow plug on the one nearest the driver on the back, i'm getting a consistent 7 except for two which are 4 and 10 amps

 

not quite sure on that one. i alwasy did the test light test.

 

gotcha ya someone wired in their own push button switch to the relay, not that those o-rings aren't old i def agree with you there. pulling these out and grounding them out on the battery did show that they worked but it was approx tenseconds for the 4 amp and 10 amp glow plug to reallyglow red hot. think being that this is an older pickup there might be a combination of things making it start hard.

 

figured i better leave an update, because lessons are always to be learned. this truck even after installing the new glow plugs which were shot by the way (irregular tip and low amps going to glow plugs), still had a hard starting problem, i checked my fuel filter, and the lower flange, if thats whats its called, it was all tight. so we pressure washed the crap out of the engine compartment to see if we could locate a diesel leak somewhere. The i believe its a fuel heater line, it goes to the top of the fuel filter flange closest towards the passenger side, anyways after running it for about five minutes i noticed that line would get saturated and form a diesel drip and land on the valve cover. i thought no frikin' way, i pulled that wire off and sure enough a little diesel and air bubbles formulated right out of where that doo dad connects and then it was going through the electrical wire and dripping out where it was rotted. I cannot say that its fixed yet as parts won't be in till Tuesday, nonetheless i think we are off on a good lead, and it'll definitely help.

 

This is KJM. I think I have the same problem. Not saying it's the oring's, but I did already changed the glow plug's and the sending unit. Going to check fuel heater line. Thank's for the tip's. Your one step ahead. Good luck.

 

Where can I get the fuel heater o ring kit for my 88 7.3?

Right now, I'm having to make sure I run it at least every twelve hours, or it's a real pain to start.

I think I'm also gonna put in new GP's and a controller. Where is the best place to order them? I'd also like to replace the glowplug wiring harness, but can't seem to find one! =-O