Need a little help here

[Matt C]

My 95 6.5 is at it's old ways of pissing me off!! lol When i go to start it it takes a good 10-15 sec of cranking to get it to go. Smoke coming out the pipe the whole time cranking. Yesterday i had to crank for 15 sec, wait a bit so the glows would cycle fully again, and then start cranking again. When it does come to life it barely runs for the first few sec till all the cylinders start working. I checked the glows, which are Kennedy quick heats, and found 2 bad ones. I checked the compression while I was in there and all cylinders are around 300, which seemed a little low but at least there all the same. I had a bunch of codes, 96 which is cyl 6 imbalance, 83 & 69 are TCC codes due to the fact I have a switch so im controling lock up myself when towing. The rest were 31, 32, 33 which are EGR & Baro codes. I noticed that one of the solenoids was making some noise so I should probably fix that. My batteries arn't the greatest so thats gonna be my next step, but it does seem like it's cranking fast enough. The temp each time was in the 30's-40's. It deffinetly seems to be getting enough fuel do to the fact that it smokes durring cranking. Possibly PMD? It's still on the pump. Suggestions would be great! Thanks guys.

 

[JMJNet]

May want to DO the checklist testing and to organize what you just said in there.

Sounds like GP, LP/OPS and/or PMD, or all of them.

 

[buddy]

You have codes for both vacuum high and low, thats odd. You should clear the codes and see what comes back.

You have low compression, and probably a bad injector in 6.

For now you should just plug the vacuum lines that go to the EGR and the EGR itself. That will disable it and wont be the cause of the codes.

After you get it started check for Battery voltage on pin G of the OBD1 port, bottom left contact. That will tell you if your OPS is working, will only be voltage there while engine running. Check your LP fuse and make sure the LP is pumping fuel with the truck off, which you can do by providing 12V to Pin G of the OBD1 port while the truck is OFF, or jumper it in some other way.

Most certainly need to get the PMD off the pump, and get a D-tech PMD, New $163 from Pensacola Diesel.

 

[Matt C]

i'll do the checklist later when i have more time. I know it dont mean much but injectors were new Delphi's 20,000 mi ago. Truck ran fine till I went on a trip towing a trailer last month, ever since it's been doin this. We own a gas station so it's always been filled at the same place untill this trip, possibly bad fuel plugged the filter? I changed it before the trip. The lift pump pumps fuel out the bleeder on the filter when I jumper the pins on the relay.

 

[JMJNet]

Did it get fuel out of the t-valve? How fast. Try without the jump and with the jump to eliminate LP or OPS.

 

[ak diesel driver]

Definately low on the compression FSM states minimum of 300.

 

[vail426]

I would try another compression gauge. It seems odd that they would all be equally low. Does the engine have high mileage?

 

[Matt C]

I cleared the codes and it finally threw one that made sense to me, code 36. I pulled the upper intake off removed the optic sensor filter, put new batteries in and she starts just fine. Still smokes a little and stumbles for a few seconds but it's done that as long as I've had it.

 

[buddy]

36 would be that the PMD is reporting the pulse width back to the PCM, and the PCM isnt liking what its getting, as it compares it to its commaded fuel rate table and what the pulse width should be at a given speed and load and commanded timing with the stepper motor.

This is commonly caused by some cloudy fuel messing with the High Resolution Camshaft timing reference provided by the Optic Sensor. So if you put in some new fuel lately or some type of fuel additive, such as a solvent to "clean" lines and injectors it may have picked some crud up and clouded the fuel, which is only a problem on the 6.5 becuase of the sensor that has to see ("optic") through the fuel.

 

[JiFaire]

Food for thought, amigo...

1] The cylinder imbalance history code can be caused by crappy running when first started... and yeah, bad glows will do that. Those Kennedy Quick-Heats are made by WAP, and there is a history there of early burn-out on them - and you can't always tell with an Ohm-meter... pull 'em, change 'em. Put Bosch Draterms or AC60gs in, and this is a good time to do the Glow-Plug mod.

2] Pulling the Optic Filter probably fixed your code 36 - if it stays gone, call Bill Heath and ask him if you need to put in a new one. The OBD-II trucks have this handled in the PCM, but the old ones might need to be replaced. I do know they run with it out, just don't know if it's good for the PCM.

3] Checking for voltage at pin G of the ALDL connector will tell you if the OPS is functioning, but not how badly the OPS contacts are burned (which is the real problem with OPS issues)... you need to put a load on that circuit - IIRC, the LP can draw over 20 amps, and if the contacts are bad, the OPS can't supply that much. For that reason, many of us have added a relay to that circuit so the OPS can trigger the relay and the relay can supply full battery power to the LP.

4] Test LP with a pressure gauge, at idle, and while driving. If it ever drops below 1-2 PSI, change it.

5] Grounds, grounds, grounds.

6] Code 36 can also be caused by poor fuel lubricity in your ULSD, which starts becoming an issue when the IP starts getting worn... as tolerances increase, things catch. Are you running a lubricity additive? (I use Powerservice/2-stroke - I figure I get enough extra mileage to pay for the additive, and my IP no longer codes 36 on me...)

7] Lines, solenoids, etc... check, measure vacuum loss int he system, replace stuff as required.

Last] 300 PSI even sucks... but it's even, so your cylinder balance issue isn't compression-related. Are you sure your gauge is accurate? If the code doesn't return once cleared on a warm engine, I'd put money on glowplugs for that one.

Good luck!
Jim

 

[fonecop1]

The stumbling on cold starts sounds like glow plugs to me too. Mine did this with the new 60G's until I did the glow plug override mod. When you use the override to heat them up it starts and runs smooth.

 

[Matt C]

Thanks guys. A little background on the truck. I bought it in '05 with 93,000 miles. It now has 125,000 miles. At 103,000 I put new head gaskets, injectors, injector pump, glow plugs, and a timing set. I always use white powerservice and 2-cycle oil when i fill up. I am not 100% sure that the gauge I used was correct, mine broke so I had to borrow one. I tried 60g's in it once and took them back out in place of these Kennedy's, which I have had TERRIBLE luck with, In the 2yrs i've had them in i think I have replaced all of them one by one as they burnt out. I've used the Bosch in a customer's truck and haven't changed one yet. Alot of my problem could have been fuel, as I stated earlier I was on a trip so i wasn't fueling at my normal spot.

 

[Matt Bachand]

Bad batch of fuel sure can get ur panties in a bunch.... I just look at it as a good time to get caught up on all your preventive maintenances and do some quality bonding / detailed cleaning as your diagnosing everything.

Hey, at least there's no snow on the ground!

 

[JiFaire]

Attaboy, Matt... sounds like you're all over it. Keep us posted!

 

[knkreb]

How's your voltage drop on the dashboard during wait to start? Both Turbine Doc and I had glow plug relay meltdowns. This is where the plastic would melt on either side of the posts, and not allow contact internally (thus no power during the wait to start). Mine was an OBD-II system, so it actually coded the event with an SES light.

So, you would hear the relay engage, but no power to the glows... thus lack of joy on start up after crrrannnnkkiing like crazy in cold/cool weather.

 

[buddy]

In a 95 you wouldnt get a GP/WTS light unless there is actually power to the GPs. Now there could be some power but not enough current to really heat them up if the controller is bad like that. And if it was not providing any power to GPs it would code 29 in OBD1 too.