Hard start, block heater and return lines?

[misterdoyle]

Hello,

I am having more and more trouble starting my

[dieselcrawler]

Sam,
I am no expert on diesels, so you'll have to wait on others more knolageable than myself to answer the questions about the hard starting. But, I am an electrician, so I might be able to help troubleshoot the block heater. If you have an amp meter, you can check if the block heater is pulling any current when it is pluged in and suppost to be working. The one in my truck is an 800 watt heater, and powered by a 120 volt sorce. So, to find the amprage, you would devide the watts (800) by the volts (120) and get amps (6.6). The easiest way to check this is with a 'clamp on' type amp meter, and to do this, you must try to take a reading on ONE WIRE. As in, put the meter around only one of the wires, the hot or the neutral, both should have the same ammount of current flow (amprage) as the other, but if you have both wires (as in, put the meter around an extention cord) they cancel each other out, and you will get a reading of next to nothing. If your block heater is anything like mine, it has a cord with the 3 wires molded together, and it would be easy to sepirate the hot or the neutral from the other 2 in order to be able to get the meter around just one conductor. So, if you get all that, you find a meter, and are able to get a reading, I would expect an amprage of around 5 to 7 amps if your block heater is working correctly when pluged in. As I said, mine is 800 watts, yours may be diffrent. 600w=5amps, 700w=5.8amps, do the math. Good luck...
Greg

[Dezman125]

Hi
Pluging in vehicals is a way of life up here.When it's real cold and the plugs get hard to push in to the cords,i plug in the cord and wait a few seconds,then i listen for the sound of the block heater,should sound like pluging in a electic kettle.You should be able to do a continuity check on the two power prongs as well.
My .02 worth

[britannic]

Air leaks, retarded timing, low compression, burnt out glow plugs, faulty glowplug control system, weak starter, weak batteries, weak lift pump, poor electrical grounds, restricted fuel filter, restricted return lines etc., are all contributors to poor starting and running.

[quote]Originally posted by misterdoyle:
[b] Hello,

I am having more and more trouble starting my

[misterdoyle]

Thanks for the input y

[crew84]

On the short check your lighter fuse. Mine was blown and the lighter would only work when the door was open.

[britannic]

Air leaks on the supply side don't normally seep fuel, but YMMV, so pressurize the fuel tank with about 8-10psi of air and check the system for weepage.

Timing: borrow a timing meter or get a pulse adapter to check it.

[Peter J. Bierman]

I think you have one or two bad glowplugs.
My truck did do the same for the last couple off weeks, changed the plugs and all smoke cleared up.
smile.gif

Peter

[big swifty]

Is there any Visable fuel leak, especially in the area near the lift pump maybe you are losing your Prime?

[dieselcrawler]

Sam,
Yeah, the continuity check would also work, use the ohm setting on your meter, and check between the 2 bladed connections on the plug. This will tell you if you have a compleat curcuit, but it won't tell you if it's actuly working. If you have an amp meter, and test with it, you will be able to actuly tell if the heater is really useing any power, and if it's up to snuff. Good luck...
Greg

[dieselcrawler]

Oh yeah... a word for safety. Don't try the continutiy check with it pluged in... I'd hate for ya to fry yourself!
Greg

[ZZ]

I just went through this in past few weeks. My truck all of the sudden would start good at first and then die. I'd have to crank & crank to get everything primed up again. Then it would be fine the rest of the day. The raw fuel smell was strong at times. I finally put it in the shop and it turned out that the hose was loose on the drain valve by the thermostat housing. It was getting air more so than it was leaking. They put a clamp on it and it cured the problem.

[GregCrabb]

My truck was leaking at the injection pump down into the valley of the engine...with 175,ooo miles on the pump I replaced it along with new injectors and glow plugs, used the resistor to extend the glow cycle, and now I don't even have to use the block heater. Last year, it wouldn't start even at 30 degrees without plugging it in.

[TonyL]

i thought my block heater was junk last winter so the first thing i checked was for voltage after the plug. That was good all i needed was a .75 cent cord end from the hardware store.

[misterdoyle]

Thanks for the input everyone.

Methinks I spoke too soon about the batterys though. I noticed that the guage reads down by 8 volts when the truck has been sitting overnight. A very likely culprit as I understand it.

[grabow]

I had this exact problem on my 93 6.5 with a db2-4911 pump as well. The Chevy guy wanted to rebuild the pump but after a little trouble-shooting whith the DP 6.5 guys I was able to narrow it to the cold advance switch; this also increases the idle speed at start-up. The switch is located near the passenger side of the pump and has two wire tabs on the top. You can jump the wires or just hold them togeather to test this out. Hope this helps.
dave:)