Cold Starts, Glow Plugs Relay Cycling, Some Experiance Needed

[swiss]

As the proud new owner of a M1009 I am now going through the fun of getting things running as they should. Love this forum and the technical manuals. Diesels are a new world for me and all the troops on this site have a ton of knowledge that has been helpful dragging me up the hill.

Cold starts are a challenge. I found the troubleshooting section in the TM and it seems straight forward enough in looking at the GP, Relay and Controller card. I just need a few hours to walk through the steps.

Meanwhile my questions is as follows. When starting the GP Relay clunks, and 3 seconds later the softer click as it cycles off, it will then clunk again 2 seconds later and repeat. Following this pattern I find that if I let it cycle 4 times or more before starting then it will start after spinning the starter for 5 secs each on the 3rd try. The wait light goes out after the first cycle. We are in mid 70 temps in georgia now.

It was interesting to read in this thread that the cycling is more an indication of the glow plugs being bad or going bad.

http://www.steelsoldiers.com/cucv/61490-no-clicking-new-glow-plugs.html

So those of you that are starting cold does your GP Relay cycle repeatedly or does it turn on and then off when the wait light goes off?

Thanks Everyone for your contributions
Steve

 

[antennaclimber]

Hi Steve,
Welcome to Steel Soldiers.

It sounds as if you have a few defective glow plugs.

Check each GP with an ohm meter. Disconnect the wire on the GP and check the resistance from the connector on the GP to ground. They should be in the 1-2 ohm range.

Let us know what you find.
Karl

 

[Warthog]

Welcome to SteelSoldiers.

Read this: http://www.steelsoldiers.com/cucv/62477-gp-module-theory-operation.html , written by Antennaclimber (thanks)


Make sure you visit the Cucv Wiki - Steel Soldiers::Military Vehicles Supersite (CUCV Wiki) that is at the top of the page on the CUCV Forum.

All of the CUCV Technical Manuals are listed and many other helpful bits of information.

You need to download the repair manuals. You can get then for free. A couple of our members have posted them on their websites.

www.jatonkam35s.com
www.liberatedmanuals.com

The wiring diagrams are in the appendix of the -20 and -34 manuals.

Also checkout the CUCV stickys. It is where we try to post helpful tips and tricks.

Almost every question you will have has been asked and answered many times. The advanced search will become your best friend. Please don't hesitate to ask something that you can't find.

Read the TM 9-2320-289-10 Operators Manual to find out how a stock system should work. It is simular to the Operators Manual for Civilian vehicles. It tells you where all the lighs, switches, etc are located and what they do.

Three of the most important tools you can buy are:

Digital Voltmeter and know how to use it - ~$10 and up
12v Battery Charger - ~$50 for a decent one
Battery Load Tester - ~$30 for an okay one at Harbor Freight

Warthog

 

[swiss]

Gentlemen I am on it this Saturday AM! I feel much more comfortable attacking the problem after reading many of the posts and the Technical Manuals. I wonder what people did before there was a great forum like this one.

Thanks for all the responses. I am in agreement that I have some bad glow plugs but proper diagnosis will tell. I always like to think through an potential problem to some of the solutions before attacking, must be the engineer in me.

Steve

 

[MuleMac01]

replace all (yes all 8 glow plugs then go from there


(So those of you that are starting cold does your GP Relay cycle repeatedly or does it turn on and then off when the wait light goes off?)


yes thats normal for it to cycle 3 times max after it starts, you will hear the engine sound smoother after each cycle.... and thats the glow plug card doing that

 

[swiss]

UPDATE: Cold Starts, Glow Plug Relay:

UPDATE: Well good news, I replaced the glow plugs last thursday night. They actually came out easily and I found I could reach them all with the right extensions no problems.

Question
I was testing the old glow plugs with a volt meter, (Ohms) and on every glow plug I had no restistance reading even after cleaning up the carbon. I was testing by putting the terminals on each end of the glow plug. When I tested with the GP in the engine I got the same results. The new glow plugs went off the chart when I performed the same test out of the motor. Can you test the glow plugs properly if they are out of the motor? I was testing resistance only and not power to the Glow Plug.

So is it possible to start one of these in 65 degree or above temperatures without glow plugs? It would take a long time to start each morning and I am thinking that the turning over of the motor was creating enough cylinder heat to fire after a long time?

On Friday morning it was colder in morning, 58 and turning the key, the glow light wait light went from 3 seconds normally on to 10 seconds. Pushing the button it fired up immediately.

I was so happy that I was going to be able to go to the woods this weekend instead of troubleshooting starting problems. So it is starting well now, I still am going to go through the GP troubleshooting so that I have a good feel for how to do it and see if I have any other related problems that could long term burn out these glow plugs.

Another problem at the moment solved!!!!

 

[Matt65]

Very good. Thanks for the update. It may have already been mentioned, but the GP resistor bypass is a good thing to do. There are many threads here. With all of your plugs no good, this may have come into play.

 

[1stSarge]

Looking at the technical manual and other posts here is this the proper way to test the glow plugs? They were removed from the engine at time of testing. I was testing resistance only and not power to the Glow Plug.

Yes

Check each GP with an ohm meter. Disconnect the wire on the GP and check the resistance from the connector on the GP to ground. They should be in the 1-2 ohm range.

If you have them out, measure from the terminal to the body of the plug. at least 1 ohm and no more than 3 ohms.

 

[swiss]

!st Sargant and Antenna Climber, thanks for your clarification. I cleaned up my thread a bit to clarify that I tested in the motor the existing GP with no reading for resistance, then tested out of the motor with no resistance reading. Then tested the new GP out of the motor and got a 3 Ohm reading. So cool you can test both in the motor from GP terminal to ground or out of the motor from end to end.



Thank you Matt, I have a concern that another problem is lurking that I need to address/check to make sure I am not replacing Glow Plugs again in another 12 months or shorter. The good thing is that now they have anti seize on them for easy removal.

 

[M1008driver]

You can get a better gp controller card from CUCV Electric or antennaclimber. The gp resister bypass can be found by searching and is easy to do. I would wait until you understood more about the gp's so you know the pro's & cons.

The thing you absolutely should do is the doghead mod. This will save your starter, cables, and battery at the very least if your starter gets stuck.

http://www.steelsoldiers.com/cucv/60960-doghead-starter-relay-modifcation.html

IMHO if you bought an ak-47 and put all the gadgets on the rifle, it is still an ak-47 and will never be a precision rifle. The same applies to your vehicle. I had all these big plans until I saw how cheap 6.2L diesel engines are and started understanding maintenance. Download the TM's and when you read something on the forum you can go reference your vehicle with a cup of coffee until the light bulb comes on. Keep it mil-spec and others can help you.

Congrats on your new M1009. I will have one some day too to go with my M1008. SRM

EDIT-

Digital Voltmeter and know how to use it - ~$10 and up
12v Battery Charger - ~$50 for a decent one
Battery Load Tester - ~$30 for an okay one at Harbor Freight

DITTO...