1998 2500 4x4 diesel no start possible glow plugs

sounds as though the cylinder,s etc are a bit clogged up, try some diesel fuel addative,as with all diesel engines if they do not get long and regular journeys the glow plugs,injectors etc get clogged ,as the engine does not get hot enough to burn these deposits off on short stop start types of journey's . you are possibly looking at replacing the glow plugs but give the addative a try and if possible take for a long drive 2-3 hours at steady highish speed , ok to repeat the addative and long drive once more ,if no improvement will need to go into the repair shop to have the glow plugs seen to at the very least , good luck

have you looked into the injectors, or injector balance? glow plugs just preheat the cylinders before you start turning the engine over. if the injectors are dumping too much fuel it will run rich and blow black smoke, lean it will dump white smoke, same as if it has an internal coolant leak, but smell different. Ford has had problems with EGR systems on some of their diesels, being an older truck how many miles is on it? and the front fuel tank could have a bad fuel pump, pretty common for them to do what you have described. Also might want to have the timing looked at on it! It ignites off of pressure, and if the timing is off it will adversely affect the ignition of the fuel which will make for hard starts, and poor running. there is a lot that needs to be looked at to figure this one out! could be quite a few different things. Good luck!

Diesel fuel tends to be sluggish to pump in cold weather and that is why some diesel cars and trucks have heaters in the fuel tank to overcome this problem. However I tend to think that the glo-plugs are not working as they should be. Have them tested . The fuel pressure fault may be the inability of the pump to pump enough fuel to do the job.

To start with, a Duramax Diesel runs on an excess of 20,000 Psi of fuel pressure. Unless you have some specialized equipment,(and know how to use it) I do not know how you could possibly tell that the fuel pressure is OK.

Duramax Diesels also have had a lot of problems with glow plugs. This could explain why it will not start. Then again, it COULD be something totally different like a bad sensor. This could even be caused by a faulty fuel pressure sensor or a bad fuel pressure regulator.

The best way to find out is to scan the engine computer for fault codes and read the engine data from the computer to see if all of the sensors are providing the correct input to the computer.

Diesel engines don't have spark plugs. They use compression and heat to fire the diesel. Most diesel engines have glow plugs which are designed to preheat the combustion chamber to help burn the diesel fuel when you start it up. Hope this helps.

When your glow plug light goes out wait for 10 seconds and then try start it from cold cause power still going too plugs even though light on dash has gone out

Ok well the glow plugs on a diesel have nothing to do with the engine firing. All the glow plugs do is heat up the combusion chamber on cold starts. Diesel engines fire using high compression. An oxygen sensor won't cause the vehicle to not start and your diesel doesn't have one of those anyways. It could be a fuel related issue. (pump, line, pressure etc.) Have you it scanned for engine DTC's? But based on your knowledge of your diesel vehicle i'm going to suggest you take it to a shop.

You may want to surf around on some of the powerstroke forums for detailed answers, but I know the powerstrokes use oil pressure to control the injectors so you may have some problems with the high pressure oil pump.
Again, it is just a guess. I just wanted to point you to some of the Ford Powerstroke forums which may be of much more help for you.
Good luck..

Sounds like a fuel pressure regulator or possible fuel pump next time it wont start on the first try turn the key on and off a few times and then try it. Also locate the fuel pressure regulator and remove the vacuum hose have some one turn the key on if it leaks out fuel the regulator is bad becarefull when doing this the system is under high pressure and can possibly soary gas in youre face.Also check the tune up most of these engines have lots of problems with distributor caps and rotors