[Relentless007]

I recently went skiing in West Virginia and the temperature got down in the low teens. Without the use of an engine block heater it took nearly 15 minutes to get my truck to start and it idled like a dog for 5 minutes afterwards. This prompted me to check my glow plugs this past weekend. I found #4 & #6 were bad and #3 was on the way out. And to my astonishment I found that my GP relay was not working either, thus I feel lucky I got the thing to start at all. Another strange thing is in two of the GP connectors I found little puddle of what looked like really light dirty oil I’m not sure what it is could just be greasy moisture build-up. Also from one of the same connectors the blue grommet/seal was missing off of it. Otherwise the harness looks OK and the truck runs great.

At 255k miles I was planning on changing out all 8 GPs and relay at once. I was wondering what the consensus was on reusing the gasket and whether or not it’s worth replacing the harness (and where I can get a replacement grommet/seal. Also while I’m in there if there is anything else I should look at doing (diagnostically/preventative maintenance).

 

[Excavator]

install new under valve cover harness along with gaskets and glow plugs. In this link below you can buy the outside connectors with pig tails that can be replaced.

Engine and Under Valve Cover Parts and Electrical for the Ford 7.3 Diesel Engine

 

[bugman]

At 255k miles I would replace everything including the kitchen sink under the valve covers along with doing a real good inspection on the outside wiring. I know that when I need to pull my valve covers that I'll be doing the same thing. Go under it once and it is done instead of doing a little bit now and some later.

Also on the relay take a look at the Western plow relay or the White Rodgers. Factory relays just don't do well on our trucks. I have been running the Stancor/White Rodgers for over 15 years now with no problems.

 

[Excavator]

Don't underestimate the Western Snow plow relay.
I for one have them in 4 Powerstrokes and also never had problem. At 14 dollars they can't be beat. Fisher plow also uses same part and it is made by Trombetta

http://gotplowparts.com/i-7281767-western-solenoid-motor-relay-new-style-56131k.html

 

[Relentless007]

im deffinatly down with replacing the entire glow plug assembly and advice is taken on the relay. I intend on using one of the suggested relays, and OEM glow plugs. as for the other components i was leaning towards these guy -accuratediesel- because they seem to know their stuff and have pretty good prices. I was also going to call Dale Isley and see what had on the shelf.
Also I keep reading about injector O-rings needing to be replaced, however I really dont want to start pulling injectors unless its a real issue.
My truck runs great however I am suspicious that I am not getting full burn in one cylinder and been threatening to do a compression check. These are also stock injectors and from what i have been reading anything after 220k is borrowed time, any thoughts? It was absolutely babied all stock before i got the truck and since you can see the mods i have done and i work it once in while. Anyone know where I can get a compression tester without having to piece a bunch of stuff together or taking out a loan for something I will hopefully not use often enough to justify it?

 

[Excavator]

at those low miles I would not worry about compression.
Injector o-rings are something I would not touch yet unless you are getting oil in fuel filter. Injectors might be something that will need to be replaced in near future if the valve poppets are worn. This will give you hard starting when cold as well but you can check the ware with feeler gauge if you remove the solenoids off the top of injector. Any miles over 200000 and injectors start the time clock ticking down and might need replaced or rebuilt. I installed baby swamps in my black obs at about 220000 miles and then chipped it.

 

[bugman]

It appears on the link that you posted that none of the parts are OEM. I wouldn't trust anything other than OEM parts especially the glow plugs. Aftermarket ones have been known to swell and become stuck in the head requiring the head to be removed to get the plug out. There are other problems with wiring harnesses and gaskets when using other than OEM parts.

Diesel O Rings only sells OEM parts and another vendor is RiffRaft Diesel

 

[Excavator]

It appears on the link that you posted that none of the parts are OEM. I wouldn't trust anything other than OEM parts especially the glow plugs. Aftermarket ones have been known to swell and become stuck in the head requiring the head to be removed to get the plug out. There are other problems with wiring harnesses and gaskets when using other than OEM parts.

Diesel O Rings only sells OEM parts and another vendor is RiffRaft Diesel

Hi Bugman, My link in post #2 is for diesel o-rings.
The second link was only for Western Relay