I am having problem starting my 83' Chevy K10 Diesel. I was wonder what's the proper procedure to start it?
when I turn the key the Glow Plug light always comes on and dies in few seconds. Do I start when the glow plug light come on or when it's off?
Do I need press gas peddle when I start? I heard 83' truck are easily flooded...
Most time after I start the truck before there're always black smoke coming out for few seconds. Is there problem with my glow plugs not working properly?
Any help or pointers would be greatly appreciated.
If the engine is COLD (winter) the glow light should come on for 10-20 seconds and then go out. Once it goes out it should start OK With a WARM engine (summertime) the light should come on 5-10 seconds and the engine should fire up when you hit the key all the way. If the engine is HOT the light should just come on and go off and the engine should start. You start the engine when the light goes OFF.
Sounds like your controller may have a problem or maybe you have a bad glow plug or two.
"Steve W." wrote in message news:1144706473 snipped-for-privacy@sp6iad.superfeed.net...
I agree. If you still have the original glow plugs then take a day and change them. Black smoke is ok on start up it means it is starting a little rich but nothing to worry about. White smoke on start up is an issue that means the diesel fuel is not completely burning and would definitely mean you need glow plugs. On a warm day you should not need to give it any gas but on a cold day you may need to give it half peddle but be sure to pull off once it catches. You do not want to kick the rpms up when it is cold. The diesel oil is very thick when cold. In fact, I once changed the oil in our ford when it was 18degF out and the oil was like shampoo. If this truck is new to you, you will get the hang of it relatively quick the 1983 vintage GMs had the Detroit Diesel Allison 6.2's and they will run for ever if you keep the oil clean in them. Ours has over 600k miles and still does not burn oil and is a daily driver. Just a word of advice the 83's used a controller mounted in the driver side head. This controller was a disaster we were replacing the one on ours every 6mo until I got tired of it and modified a controller for a 91 pickup to work. The 91 controller is completely solid state and has worked flawlessly for 7 or 8 years now. The one on the 83 looks like a gray tube about 1" in diameter and about 4" long. This controller has internal heaters that heat up and open and close the glow plug circuit. The problem is the engine vibrates so violently that it destroys the controllers quickly. Hence the instillation of the 91 model in our truck. Therefore, if you are having starting problems, I suggest you change the fuel filters (one under the body near the tank and one on the firewall under the hood) and check you glow plugs. If you decide to check the glow plug you should see a resistance of less then 100ohms but I would just change them since you have them out. Make sure you take the time to refill the can fuel filter before instillation of you will have a hard time getting the engine to restart. Since I no longer use the 83 controller I don't have the pin resistance data. If somebody can give you the resistances for the pins on the controller you could check to see if it had a bad circuit.
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