What makes ford diesel hard to start can you have one r more glow plugs out 2002?

Answer 1

DieselMost starting problems with diesels have to do with the glow plugs not getting hot enough or fuel pressure issues. During cold weather the glow plugs need to heat a lot longer than in mild weather. Most of my equipment is diesel and I tell my operators to run the glow plugs 20 to 30 seconds before attempting to start the first time in cold weather as opposed to 10 seconds when its warm, but they never seem to learn and are always cranking the engine over and over wondering why it wont start. I don't know if its all that cranking that's doing it but ive gone through several sets of glow plugs this last winter, in one case the relay that is supposed to shut them off after a few minutes of running was not doing its job and they glowed till they could not glow any more. What it boils down to is give plenty of time for the plugs to warm up, remember they need to be hot enough to ignite the fuel ( there is no other way to ignite the fuel ) and a cold engine takes longer to heat up, and once it is running give it time to warm up the rest of the engine ( long enough for the temp guage to start to rise ) before driving. Your glow plugs can be ohm tested to see if they are still good and it is entirely possible that one or more has gone bad.