Bad pump, injectors?

[xantusak]

Hi
I am having problems with my fuel injection system. Well, first of all, all glow plugs but one are toasted. Obviously I am having difficulty starting this thing, however, I would expect the engine to fire even without plugs when it is nice outside. I can not cold start this thing even in 90 degrees weather, unless I give it a hit with ether.(Yes I know it is not good for the engine) So that makes me think that either the injection pump is going bad or the injectors are not good. Or both. Additionally, the engine seems to not have as good power as it used to, and seems to smoke little more under load. Anybody has experience with this, should I go ahead and purchase both pump and injectors or should I try injectors first and see? I am going to have to replace the plugs so I need to pull the injectors also ( I remember this being recomended here to remove broken off plug tips, if needed). Now, where do you guys recommend that I should get these parts from? What is the glow plug of choice? I would like it to last longer then 8 seconds before it burns out. I typically use a ballpark B30 blend, should I seek a pump with specific seals that are made for bio or are they all ok with this nowadays?
Truck is an 86 model year, has 110, 210, 310 ?? thousand miles on it, not sure, ford was either cheap to put an extra digit on the odo or did not expect it to last ove 100 k miles
Thanks for any help

[agnem]

Unless your internal engine temp is around 120 degrees or so, it's not fair to expect it to start without glow plugs. Yea, you might get it to start eventually by cranking it continually, but there is a good chance your starter will get hot faster than your cylinders will. The glow plug system is there for good reason.

[84 Diesel Lover]

I agree with Agnem. Even my skid steer Bobcat will not fire if I have a burnt glow plug, regardless of how warm it is. I recommend Motorcraft E5TZ-12A342-B glow plugs straight from the dealer. They are made in Germany but they are far superior to Bosch plugs.Also scrap your GP controller and bypass it with a push button system. Do not put in a toggle under any circumstances! Also the list of 8 seconds to burn out glow plugs starts here: AutoLite, Bosch, Champion (my Champions were a lot of funn! NOT!!) You will get good advice on GP'S that work for people here.

[xantusak]

I already have a manual plug control, it is actually operated by a momentary toggle, you let go, it shuts off like a button. I was cycling it only for 7 second at a time with 5~6 seconds brake. Had to ussualy cycle it 3 times like that to start it cold in any weather. I guess it was too much for the plugs. I know when I bought the truck there were 7 working. Anyway, what I do not understand is that some engines start well without plugs. We have a piece of equipment at work powered by perkins diesel, it starts without plugs down to range of mid 40 degrees. It is a ***** to start when it gets colder(no plugs at all), but at normal temps it fires within a second of cranking. All the big trucks we have start without plugs too, some take a bit of cranking. I literarly cranked the **** out of my truck (batteries started slowing down)and it didn't even caugh at 90 degrees ambient temp!

[agnem]

I know there are a lot of diesels that start fine without a glow cycle. I think the popular Cummins engines are this way. I don't know enough about the others to have a positive answer, but my own theory is it has to do with the size of the precups or DI versus IDI. I think the fuel coming in brings the potential to lower the surrounding air temp down, and the precup walls themselves may soak up a lot of heat. Beru (Motorcraft or International) plugs are the best and only ones most of us who have been on these boards a long time will use.

[B-rad]

The cummins Does not use glow plugs it has a heated intake screen.