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Jarod · #9 12-25-2015, 12:44 PM

Wow.

My former boss has a early 2000s 7.3 in his truck. was having issues starting it while I still worked for him, had me pick him up at his mechanics shop, where it had been on and off for a couple weeks.

they had it running when we got there, charged him 2 grand for a bunch of silly stuff, and the very next day it wouldn't start (it was about 40 outside), I was driving to work as I passed his house to see him outside with the hood up on his truck, so I stopped and he is spraying starter fluid madly into the intake and cranking it, he has me crank while he sprays, it comes knocking to life like you'd expect.

I asked if his mechanic changed the glow plugs, he said they told him they never need to be changed, thats not why it was hard to start.

After several days of hard starts he has me pick him up at the mechanics so he can drop it off again. while there I asked the mechanic about glow plugs and all the associated wiring, temp sensors and things that control them (with my w116 idling peacefully in the background), he says it could be the relay. I mention that I don't work on many diesels other than MB, but the relays are very simple to test with a voltmeter, but the glow plugs themselves are much cheaper and more difficult to determine if they are any good without removing them from the motor.

He changes the subject to how my car doesn't have carpet on the rear deck and the paint is peeling on my hood. I say "at least it starts, thats more than you've been able to get his ford to do"

My boss interjects that he would really like them to make absolutely certain the glow plugs are working because he sees how well my car starts and his truck hasn't ever started easily, and since he's writing the check so he wants them to check it out.

When we got in the car I said i didn't know ford diesels but if my car was starting like that I'd be buying a set of glowplugs before I even opened the hood.

The mechanic said they replaced the glow relay, charged him another 2 grand. then the truck would start ok, but if you waited for the glow cycle to finish it wouldn't start, you had to just get in and crank like it was a gasser.

I ended up quitting a while later, they hired new people for me to train to help do my job and paid them more than they were paying me.

My current 617s have very different starting routines. the blue car has what seems like a 5 second glow light then it starts every time, no problem.

my grey car starts quite easily but you have to hold your foot on the throttle, not much, just a tad. I think its a small fuel leak thats getting air into the system.