Attn: Dave - F250 winter starting

[HAULN-SS]

Dave,

You use any additive in your fuel in winter for your F250? This cold weather lately has been making it pretty hard for the truck to start. I dont think have a block heater (well, in my cursory walk around the front bumper this morning before i left for work I couldnt find the plug if its there) so I was wondering about putting some kind of additive in the fuel.

Also, somewhere I heard that if you get water in your fuel system it can gum things up - do you know how to check that? Is the only check pulling the cover off and turning that valve on the fuel bowl (I'm assuming all of them had a valve?)

[SlimKlim]

Does yours have the 7.3L? Ours would barely start once it got into the 20s and if it got too cold would completely refuse to start no matter what you did. It was fine if you plugged it in though. Our plug for the block heater was in the bumper behind the license plate on the driver's side IIRC.

I still remember cycling the glow plugs 2, 3, or 4 times in that thing then finally getting it to cough to life and shaking me out of the goddamn truck in the process.

[CaptainHenreh]

Yeah, how many heat cycles of the plug are you waiting through?

My default is 3 no matter what...in cold weather on "Hank" I'd wait for like, 6.

[HAULN-SS]

By cycle you mean key off, key on til light goes off? I think I did 3 this morning. Maybe the solution is to do more. I guess I need to crawl around and see if i have a block heater..I read somewhere this morning maybe all of them have it , but just some of them dont have a plug installed..who knows.

One reason I was thinking I might need an additive - my fuel gauge was wrong this morning..it was like it was slow to correct to the right level. Maybe the density of the fuel at those low temperatures was having some effect there? I dunno.

[SlimKlim]

No idea about water in the fuel, but you should definitely have a block heater in there somewhere. I can't imagine they'd let those things leave the factory without them. Ours was in a waaaaaaaay better mood when we plugged in it in weather like this.

[BLINGMW]

I cannot speak from personal experience, but back in my selling-turbo-diesel-truck-accessories-days, a lot of guys used stuff like this pretty religously in the winter. For $10 it's worth a shot:

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The internets tell me the gel point of diesel is around 20 deg so I guess you need something!

[CaptainHenreh]

By cycle you mean key off, key on til light goes off?

No...what? I guess the F250 has a "wait to start" light. turn key "on" until that light goes off, then try to start the truck. You'll hear a relay clicking, that's the GP's going on, heating the cylinder. The GP's can be on for as long as 2 minutes depending on battery power, engine oil temp, etc.

Go turn your key on, wait 60 seconds, then try to start the truck.

It looks like some dudes on the interwebs wire in a glow plug light so they can see when the GP relay is hot. All the chevy's I've ever dealt with (Dad's old 6.2 "Hank The Beast" and dad's 6.5TD) both have GP lights that cycle on and off.

[D_Eclipse9916]

By cycle you mean key off, key on til light goes off?

No...what? I guess the F250 has a "wait to start" light. turn key "on" until that light goes off, then try to start the truck. You'll hear a relay clicking, that's the GP's going on, heating the cylinder. The GP's can be on for as long as 2 minutes depending on battery power, engine oil temp, etc.

Go turn your key on, wait 60 seconds, then try to start the truck.

It looks like some dudes on the interwebs wire in a glow plug light so they can see when the GP relay is hot. All the chevy's I've ever dealt with (Dad's old 6.2 "Hank The Beast" and dad's 6.5TD) both have GP lights that cycle on and off.

I definitely always run additive. Winter additives in cold, summer additives in not cold. Ha. The lubricity of us diesel is low, so it will help your truck in wear to run an additive. Or so I have heard.

If its bad in 20 degree weather definitely get a block heater. Starting my truck up yesterday in -20 degree weather was brutal. Fired up right away after letting the glow plugs warm for 20 seconds. Did a mistake though and tried to drive off immediately. Fuel rail pressure dropped and it threw a code. This put it into limp mode. Just had to clear the code, but f your car is hard to start, might want to let her warm up for a while before trying to drive.

[HAULN-SS]

well i found out last night i do actually have a block heater. The cord was tucked up high on the bumper, and still had the wire ties and stuff on it like it had never been used! I plugged it in so i can try it out this morning to see how she does.

[Dave]

Sorry for not seeing this until now. Haven't been on the forum lately - work has actually been busy.
I've never put an additive in mine. In the coooold mornings, I just cycle the glow plugs 3-4 times and usually starts right up. 1 cycle = turn the key and let it sit for 30-60 seconds. If it isn't totally ready/warm, it will shake and buck like a bronco but it'll even out momentarily.

And, as you found, you do have a block heater. Mine was a NC truck and, like yours, appeared to have never been used. I still never use it since I rarely drive the truck, but back when I drove it regularly I would plug it in and it always started right up no matter how cold. A nice, clean way to make the plug for the heater more accessible and not dangle is to buy a Marinco plug (socket that boats have), cut a hole in the bumper to install into, and wire it in. I did that back in the day and it's pretty slick - just make sure you unplug the cord before you drive away...