Engine block heater not working/truck wont start if cold

Is the glow plug timer opperating for long enough ? and do you wait for glow light to go out before starting? On real cold days there could be a problem with fuel waxing up in the lines, your heaters would compensate for this. some add a little kerrosene to the fuel. check with your fuel supplier. There is also a verry good Wynns product that lowers the freezing piont of the wax in deisel so that freezing is less likley to occour. hope this helps

Make sure the block heater is working. But with high altitude and cold air this is somewhat normal for a diesel on cold start. If the glow plug indicator light flashes off and on quickly in the dash you may also have a burned out glow plug(s), this also causes a poor cold start.

white sort of smoke when cold and trying to start ,well dont panic and pull engine apart i think you just need new glow plugs thats all ,when its really cold just spray a squirt of easy start ether spray into the air intake whilst someone cranks engine and if it starts straight away then you know you need new glow plugs or the timer relay isnt working ,their is nothing wrong with the engine its just the fact that the glow plugs are down to one out of the four working if not all of them are dead and what you seeing is unburnt fuel as vapour .This is normal what you are seeing if the heater glow plugs are not working as after 40yrs i have seen this quite a lot especially with ricardo type cylinder heads (indirect injection) but you do get it with direct injection as well if the compression is down or the fuel has gelled up but you need temperatures of at least 10c below for this to happen unless the fuel has a antifreeze additive or half a gallon petrol to a tank of diesel will do the same antifreeze trick.

Replace your Glow plugs.

Hi,
I would recommend disconnecting your glow plug relay if you are going to use starting fluid.
With starting fluid in the engine and the glow plugs turn on it may explode the fluid and do head damage. Starting fluid and any kind of ignition source ( hot glow plug ) is like a bomb.
Wayne

HELLO THERE:
Diesel engines work under heat of compression meaning that when the fuel is injected into the cylinder and is compressed during the compression stroke in the cylinder it heats up untill it fires.
If the engine is now starting and you are letting the glow plug on for the reccommended amount of time than yes i would consider getting a glow plug that has a higher temperature range on it.
also you can get fuel heaters this is what we use on all of our big rigs they are better know as pre heaters they work very well when the temperatures are very cold and of course a block heater works well too ok
I hope that this is very helpful for you.
Best regards michael

if it gets that cold you will have to plug it in, if equiped with an engine block heater

Gasoline engines work with a spark plug, where an electrode ignites the fuel mixture. Diesel engines operate on the principle of heat and pressure. Compression ratios are very high in diesel engines and when the air is compressed into a very confined space it heats rapidly, then the fuel is injected and combusts. Most diesel engines have a "wait to start" light when you first turn the ignition to on. If the temp is below normal, I might would allow for a few extra seconds for the glow plugs to heat up. The block heater will help though, b/c it raises the temp on the engine and allows for it to build the heat neccesary for combustion.

Sounds like a faulty cold start assistor. On top of the engine you will find an aluminium housing with four things that look like glow plugs screwed into it. These 'glow plugs' are only available complete with the housing fron Vauxhall. Approx £70 +
Airbag light is probably a fault with the seatbelt pretensioner.
Check the wiring under the seats for damage or perhaps the plugs have pulled apart.

DEPENDING HOW COLD OUT IT IS DIESELS DONT LIKE TO START IN COLD WHEATHER UNLESS THE GLOW PLUGS ARE WARM THIS IS THE REASON FOR PLUGGING DIESELS IN MOST WONT START IF ITS COLD OUT IF ITS NOT THAT COLD OUT IT SHOULD START IF YOU HAVE ENOUGH BATTERY POWER MAYBE THERES NOT ENOUGH FUEL GETTING UP TO THE THROTTLE BODY HOPE THIS HELPS