1984 ford diesel

[84FORDDSLTK]

I have a 1984 ford diesel with a 6.9ltr engine, i recently replaced the starter on it and one battery, now i cannot get it to crank fast enough to get compression. i have tried jumpstarting it and still no luck. My glowplugs do not work but i have kept it plugged in for the past two wks due to 10 to 30 degree weather. i had no trouble this past summer just used a little ether. any ideas, this is my first diesel so i am still learning.
thanks for any help.

[dpetdog99]

Never ever ever ever use ether on it to get it running, unless you are absolutely certain that the glowplugs aren't heating at all. If ether hits a hot glowplug, it's gonna light off.

I have two suggestions. First, make sure all your electrical connections are nice and tight between the battery and starter, make sure there is no corrosion on them either. My second would be to test your batteries. Why did you only replace one? Maybe you got a bad new battery, but if you can, replace the second one also. Try to replace them as sets, not one at a time.

Hopefully you'll get that sucker running.

[dpetdog99]

Dang it, I forgot to mention, check out http://www.thedieselstop.com. They have forums there, and you can check out the 6.9 liter diesel section. These guys really know their stuff about these diesels.

As an aside, do you know why your glow plugs aren't working? Is it that the plugs are bad, or is the controller bad. The 6.9's a pretty bad controller that would end up frying the plugs. A lot of people on TDS, put a push button to energize their plugs, that way they can burn them for maybe 6-8 seconds, and crank their truck. Just to make sure the plugs don't overheat and burn out.

Again, good luck with the rig, you'll eventually get it running! Believe me, I know, my LHS is down right now with shorted out wiring and a bad coil pack. I found it and went, aieeee!!

Have a good one!

Dan