Suburbans won't start without being plugged in awhile?

[RNation]

For some reason my truck won't start unless it's plugged in for awhile. I woke up today and forgot to plug it in last night, but it's like 68* right now. It cranks real fast, and that's all it does. It doesn't even sound like it's trying to go. Any suggestions?

A couple things:
1) My glow plug system has been acting up for sometime now. The glow plug light kicks on while I'm driving and stays on, so I have to actually pull over as fast as I can (when on highway it can take a bit) and unplug the glow plug controller switch. I usually have to do this about 3 - 5 times a week. So there's a problem there. Is it possible for the light to come on but not the glow plugs? And I have been procrastinating for awhile, at some point I'm going to re-wire the glows to a push button in the cab.

2) I don't know if this matters or not because I have made through a Missouri winter without but the fuel heater isn't plugged in on the FF housing. I had to switch from the older box style to the newer cylinder style housing and the electric plugs didn't fit the new one. But I don't think the fuel heater would matter in 60 degree weather if it doesn't matter in 10 degree weather.

3) 1 or 2 of my injectors leak while truck is running. I don't have a problem starting the truck when it's been plugged in so I'm not sure this would be the culprit all though it probably wouldn't hurt to replace.

On a side note O'reillys sells new injectors for $59 and rebuilt for it think $89, do the rebuilt have better guts? And does anyone know if there worth the extra money?

 

[RNation]

Is it possible that some of the GP's went bad from being on to long and the block heater heats everything up enough to only need a couple GP's to start? It starts fast and fine when plugged in though. And after the first start of the day it will start later after cooling down all the way (cool enough to not register on the temp gauge) without any issues.

 

[ak diesel driver]

time for new glows and controller.

 

[just a number]

:iagree: time for the push button. it's cheap and easy to do.

 

[RNation]

I was looking for the tut earlier, someone explained to me how to do it awhile back but I can't seem to find it.

I can use the existing wires that run to the glows now right? Just grab the 2 main leads running to each side of the glows and run them into the cab on a momentary button then run that to the ford solenoid. And the solenoid is already connected to the battery. Is that the basics of it?

With that being done, I have 1 temp sensor that connects to the GP system on the back passenger side head ( I think missy said before I can just connect those two wires together and forget about it), then the actual controller (what do I do with it after glows are hard wired if anything)?

I guess it costs to be a procrastinator haha....oh and as far as glows go, 60g?

 

[just a number]

you need the momentary switch, a 12 solenoid(min 120A) and a power supply. you need to run power through the switch to the one post on the solenoid to activate it. then it's just connect the power supply from the factory battery supply and the GP leads on the other side. as far as glows go you either need to use 60Gs or Bosch Duratherm(self-regulating). the is one wire you'll need from the harness to control the light.

a couple of link from the tech library
http://www.thetruckstop.us/forum/showthread.php?5440-Manual-Glow-Plug-Override-How-To

http://www.thetruckstop.us/forum/showthread.php?18307-Glow-Plug-Extend-Relay-install-with-Pics..

 

[Koots]

I followed this video, except i used a big huge momentary push button switch from a semi truck parts supplier:

[video=youtube;0jsa61_EhSM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jsa61_EhSM[/video]

This is probably the best method as it doesn't require running high amp voltage through small wires int the cab. You are just running the ground circuit, which isn't nearly as dangerous if something were to go wrong. What i liked most about this is that it retained the factory glow plug light on the dash, along with the factory solenoid making a huge click when the glows are on, which is helpful when you don't have any dash lights

 

[RNation]

Cool, thanks for the info. My controller is faulty though so the video procedure wouldn't be the way to go for me right? Even though I like that method because you get the light and the loud click. Also I have the older type of controller, it's a cylinder shape, about 5 inches tall, and the connection to it snaps on the top with like 5 wires coming out of it. So I don't think the links will help either for wiring my controller wires to my new circuit.

You can see in the one pic the connector type and there's 5 wires coming out of it, 2 green, 2 black and 1 brown. I'm assuming the 2 green are the GP feeds. Maybe 2 blacks are grounds for each side and maybe brown is light?

This is the GP solenoid already in my truck which should be fine right?

I tried to add the picture with the url but for some reason their not showing up. If your able to the pics are in my album labled misc (only 2 pics there).

 

[Koots]

The controller only controls when the glow plugs are needed to be turned on or not based on engine temperature. Hooking up a manual push button switch just bypasses the controller altogether and lets you do it yourself. I even have my controller unhooked (the weird cap with the wires in it) and i can still use my glow plugs and will still see the light on the dash.

If you have the same relay setup in your truck, then this will get rid of all the worries about the controller and it failing or having to spend up the ass just to replace something that will probably break in a year or less.

 

[bk95td]

Why not just replace the bad temp switch in the rear of the passenger side head? It also controls cold advance and fast idle. Bosch duraterm glow plugs heat faster than AC Delco G60s do. The G60s don't work all that well with the stock glow time. A AC Delco controller would probably outlast most of the chineese aftermarket controllers. The Fuel heater isn't supposed to turn on untill the fuel is below 45 degrees.
Rockauto AC Delco glow plug switch[in head]212317[GM# 23504005] $19.43 Ac Delco Glow Plug relay d1777 {GM#00560580} $19.34

 

[RNation]

Well koot, the way in the video was very easy and worked great. I thought the GP controller worked differently, i thought it turned the GP circuit on/off therefore I was trying to figure out how to take it out and wire everything together, if that makes sense. Once you replied I realized how easy it actually was....haha....I might even goes as far as to say it's so easy a caveman can do it. Thanks for the help everyone.

The temp switch on the rear passanger side head should be good, I replaced it under a year ago. The GP controller I believe is what was acting up because the GP's would come on sometimes while the truck was at running temp (195 - 200*). But the controller is fairly new too so I don't know. But I think for a work truck this was the simple cheap fix.

 

[WarWagon]

Last time my 1988 GP controller came on at temp I was doing 65. Some of the glow plug parts went out the exhaust, the rest of the blown in half plugs were impacted in the piston crowns. That stupid sensor nearly killed the engine.

What I would do is upgrade your Glow plug controller to a 1993 version. The one you have is not the most reliable unit/design.

You will have to replace all your glow plugs as the above conditions burned them all out at the least, blew them up at the worst. I would expect some to be swollen and be a pain to remove.

 

[RNation]

I suppose the correct fix would be to do what your saying, but since it's just an old work truck I'll leave the GP's on the switch. Also I did change all the GP's to the 60g ones. There was a few that were hard to get out, did they get swollen from overheating?

 

[Koots]

I had a few that had to be gently wiggled and worked out but not as bad as i expected...especially considering my controller kept turning my GP's on while driving or idling after it was warm.