[Irishindian]

Let 1987 6.9 sit for a month or so. Had previously put new relay ( behind air cleaner) in and new gp's. Truck has 430,000 miles on it. Have had it since it was new. Was running ok before I let it sit. Got back home, put good charge on both batteries, cleaned posts, some new ground connectors. Now, when I turn the key the fusible links at the battery relay heat up pretty good and start smokin. Is it possible that relay is bad? Or have I got a ground somewhere down the line. Would surely appreciate some input here. thanks,

 

[cdnsarguy]

Check the main wires and connectors on the pax inner fender... they are known to burn up and short out.

 

[Irishindian]

Thanks Pete,

I looked more closely at the wire that was heating up. I did as you said and traced the wire down to a many wire connector that was headed to the main relay for the glow plugs. The wire was pretty toasted at the connector. Ran out of light so I will go down and check it now to see if the connector is shot or if the problem is somewhere beyond the connector. I am guessing that there must be a direct ground somewhere that is making this wire act like a heating element on the stove and get red hot. Thanks for the input. joe

 

[Irishindian]

Just to add some info. Truck always ran good but had difficulty getting the glow plugs ready. Would wait probably 30 seconds after the "wait to start" light went out to turn over the starter. Radio light would blink a little brighter indicating to me the draw on the battery for some reason was less. Figured glow plugs were charged. Now that I got into the wiring harness leading to the main glow plug relay, two large wires going in to the connector and two going out were fried pretty good and the connector pins were pretty shot. Had melted the plastic around the pins. Cut the two wires on each side of the connector free(bypassed the connector), removed the burnt wire and hard wired the two wires together. My truck now starts as soon as the "wait to start" light goes out. This was probably a problem for 2 or 3 years. Thanks for the shout Pete. joe