Ok, when the temp drops into the 40's I go out to start it in the
morning, I cycle through the glow plug cycle and then it starts on the
first try but: It REALLY doesn't want to run for a couple of
minutes, blows a little tiny bit of white smoke then idles out
fine. If I don't let it warm up completely it has hesitation on
acceleration until the op temp comes up to normal. Is this all ok
or do I need injectors or something else?

Mine does the same thing and with the same milage. But I have new injectors and glow plugs. However, mine runs fine after letting it idle for about 30 seconds.


Honestly, I am just glad it starts, and I am not going to sweat the fact that it doesn't start as well as I think it should. Every used diesel I have ever owned had some sort of cold start issue. Just the nature of the beast as far I am concerned.Edited by: Juancho

Thanks, I was just wondering, it runs fine after letting it idle for a
little bit, and starts ok just doesn't want to run right off.

Same here...all diesel engines will run better warm--thats what they made block heaters for.

I've always been told to warm a diesel before operating it. I let my truck idle till the temp gauge touches the bottom range indicator.

I would start plugging it in at night. Also you could test the glow plugs you may have a few bad ones. I had a Ford diesel at the time I replaced mine, all you have to do is take a test light hook to the battery and ground it to the tip of the glow plug if the light comes on it's fine if not you need to replace it. Don't know how the Chevy's are set up but, I imagine it's not much different.

Even two bad glow plugs will hamper starting. These engines should start all the way down to zero degs. with just glow plugs. Twenty is my cutoff for plugging in if it's going to sit all day or longer.


When it gets real cold an extra dose of fuel conditioner won't hurt. Before panic sets in try unplugging the coolant temperature sensor in the coolant crossover pipe. This trick will default the ECM to -40* and set an extra long glow cycle. If the plugs are more than a few years old you might want to pull them out. If anything in this circuit goes really bad the tips will swell up making extraction really tough.