So last fall around October I took home my '88 6.2 Sub. Never had any trouble starting it until winter time when it would need a lot of cranking/block heater time. I figured that this would be expected, but even then starting was rough and took WAY too long. Note that I NEVER used any ether to get it started...only lots and lots of cranking and waiting on the glow plug controler to cycle multiple times (it seemed to help).

Once it warmed up a bit, I checked all the glow plugs with a multimeter. They all read ~1.5 Ohms, which is normal from my reading.

So now its getting into the 50's in the morning and I'm STILL having a hard time getting it started!

So my question is, where do I go from here? Glow plug controller? Wiring? Fuel system? Pics and vids of anything you want to see can be posted.

I'm a diesel noob so go easy :D

Thanks

You may have air getting into the fuel system. to check put a clear fuel line on the top of the injection pump and look for air bubbles.
Side note. The best time to start the truckis the moment the glow light shuts off. The plugs are hottest then. Later when they cycle for a few secs they're not heating up as much.

X2 on the air leak

X-3....... find the leak and fix it and it'll start 100x better ALL the time....

Check your fuel filter seals for cracks, I had one go bad and suck air when shut off. Next would be to get the engine compartment nice warm and dump the filter's drain, could have water in there. Do you have winter or summer or blend of both for fuel?

Do you have the box type filter in your '88? if so the vac switch in the base is probably leaking air...... That's what my problem was anyway....

Ok, thanks for the ideas guys. I have a spare fuel filter, so I'll go ahead and change it (not sure if the one in there has ever been changed) and check the gaskets while I'm doing it.
I filled up last weeked so it's probably still winter blend.

K I changed the fuel filter. I hadn't started it today so the cool thing was after I changed it and bled for air, it fired right up =D

I'll post back to let you know how it starts tomorrow morning.

Thanks for the suggestions guys!

K I changed the fuel filter. I hadn't started it today so the cool thing was after I changed it and bled for air, it fired right up =D

I'll post back to let you know how it starts tomorrow morning.

Thanks for the suggestions guys!


OH! As an aside, I already threw the old filter away (sorry no pics), but it was pretty old and the small gaskets looked cruddy. I'm hoping that the filter was the issue here.