[Chris611]

I have a hard starting problem that I am trying to fix on my '97 6.5L. I get good cranking speed and about 15 seconds of WTS light, but hard starting and lots of white smoke. I have used my mulitimeter and get 12V at the plugs. I pulled the 4 drivers side plugs and put them in a vise. I used a batt charger and applied 12V to them. They are 3 y/o Kennedy Quick Heats. The tip starts to get red after about 3-4 seconds and then by about 10 seconds 3/4 of the element is red. Does this sound right? I was planning on replacing them, but they would appear to be working? I thought once I saw an article on the QH's vs 60G and they showed them glowing, but I can't find that to compare to what I see. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks
Chris

 

[gmctd]

Repeating this again - glow plugs cannot be tested with a battery charger.

Test them with a fully charged battery - if you want, you can connect a battery charger to the battery, depending on how much testing you intend.

DO NOT TEST GLOW PLUGS WITH A BATTERY CHARGER.
..........................OR.................................
DO NOT USE A BATTERY CHARGER TO TEST GLOW PLUGS.

1. Glow plug requires DIRECT CURRENT current driven by dc voltage to provide instant heat - 10amps dc

2. Battery charger voltage is rectified but not filtered, so output is half-wave ALTERNATING CURRENT driven by ac voltage at ~66% indicated value.

A 10amp battery charger will not EVEN efficiently drive the 1.2ohm glow plug resistance.

Use your jumper cables from the vehicle battery, and the go-nogo test is = if the tip does not glow after ~10secs, the plug is on it's way south - should glow within the first few seconds.

Also repeating again - BE CAREFUL - glowing yellow heat can sear thru muscle to the bone long before your eyes start making tears.

 

[Chris611]

Alright... So I tried using a battery with jumper cables and had the same results. So I am assuming the glow plugs are good. I will install them again and keep tryin to figure out what is wrong. This morning I tested the CTS and got about 17.3k Ohms, it was about 7 degrees. So from my search that sensor should be okay.

 

[gmctd]

Ok, doin' good - those three gp's are functional.

What are your local ambients?

White vapors at (really) cold-start indicate sub-combustion heat and\or not enough advance - pull your ECT connector and try another cold-start.

 

[Pillow]

Here is a good pic:
http://www.kennedydiesel.com/detail.cfm?ID=30

I just ordered these Quick Heats from Kennedy on Thursday as my 96 blows white when cold starting and takes about 15+ seconds to kick in. The wifes 99 clicks in about 3 seconds and with no white smoke, plus you barely hit the starter and it fires up.

These quick heats seem to be the same thing SSDiesel sells as well.

 

[Dieseldreamr]

The WAP quick heats I bought from SSdiesel worked great for the 4 months that they worked, just in the past few days they have crapped out so I bought some AC60gs and hopefully they'll last longer than those. Only getting 4 months use for GP's are a joke i think maybe thats just my opinion...

 

[gmctd]

What is the brand on those SS plugs, dreamr?

 

[Chris611]

I will try pulling the ECT connector tomorrow morning and see if that helps. It started okay this afternoon, but it was near 30 degrees. Earlier this week when our high was 11, I had to start the truck with the temps in the single digits at work, I really had to crank to get it to start. I have always had good luck with the truck starting in the cold. After I first got it in '99 It had 60K on it and had been sitting for a month since I was on the road for work, I came back and the temp was in the single digits and the truck was not plugged in, fired with not too much trouble. I'm going to also replace a few of the spade connectors since they look a little rough.

 

[99burb]

SS diesel plugs

I didn't get very long life from my ssdiesel plugs from WAP Ind. lasted about a year...

 

[Silvy]

(X2)--lasted about 10 months.

 

[DavidPhillips]

As a test someone check and see if you can make coffee with one of those.

I was thinking old PMD but this looks more promising.

 

[99burb]

Ck all the plugs?

Are you sure all plugs are good? I had three bad ones and the diffrence between 8plugs and 5plugs is Night and Day!!!

 

[Dieseldreamr]

What is the brand on those SS plugs, dreamr?

They were the WAP inc. quick heats that SSDiesel sells..

 

[Pillow]

Well the Kennedy fast heats have a 1 year warrantee. The Heath glows 4 years.

 

[Chris611]

Okay, so I pulled the CTS plug and that didn't help any. Then I removed the 6 easy to get to glow plug connectors (1,2,3,4,5,7) and cleaned them and also took a pliers and squezed the enges down so the ends were tight on the glow plugs. This didn't help either. As stated earlier, I am getting voltage at the plugs, but I wonder if the glow plug relay controller is not able to supply the needed amperate. In other words could the contacts in the controller be bad and not able to supply the needed amperage, but able to supply 12v as measued from a voltmeter?

Side questions: Is there anything special about the spade connectors on the wires? Can I replace them with the ones we have at work for relay bases from Waytek? The are look identical, but I don't know if there is a coating on these for high heat?

THanks
Chris

 

[midniteplowboyy]

Did you measure voltage with the GP's hooked up, my 94 has been starting hard, I only had 9.3v @ the conectors, I had a bad conection @ the GP relay, cleaned it, now I got 10.2v. Now I got to find where I'm losing 2 more volts between the batt and relay.

 

[Dieseldad97]

I didn't get very long life from my ssdiesel plugs from WAP Ind. lasted about a year...

Mine SSDIESEL plugs are dying fast. 1 year and BOOM ....crapping out. I left an email with them and we will see if they will help me.

My next set will be from HEATH if SSDIESEL does nothing.

 

[Chris611]

I did check the voltage at the plugs and I get about 10.2 volts. I guess my thought is that it doesn't take much of a connection to get 12 volts to register on a voltmeter. But it would seem to take a solid connection of some substanance to take 7A at 12V. I wonder if the glow plug relay is making enough contact to make 12V, but the contacts are carboned up and dirty enough that they can't get the 50A of current to the plugs. I am going to try hot wiring around the relay for 15 seconds and see if the starting improves tonight.