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Hard Starting Power Wagon in Montana

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Old Oct 5, 2014 | 08:52 PM
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Mike Mc's Avatar
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From: Bakersfield CA
Hard Starting Power Wagon in Montana

It's been down in the teens at night and the '93 5.9 is having a hard time starting. Ya it doesn't help that the air and fuel heater are not hooked up

Anyways, the 120v heater wires have been cut and I would like to put and new end on so it can be plugged in at night. I'm assuming one wire is ground and the other two don't matter how there wired up on the AC plug. Can one of you confirm how the proper way to wire this up?

Thanks
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Old Oct 5, 2014 | 09:58 PM
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Yep, sounds like you are on the right track with the block heater cord. One wire should be green or bare copper, that's the ground. The other two are interchangeable between hot and neutral; I don't think they are color coded. You can verify with an ohmmeter if you disconnect the other end from the heater element, if it doesn't look clear.
You may be better off to just get a new replacement cord instead of attaching one of those giant yellow replacement cord ends to beat against your bodywork all winter.
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Old Oct 5, 2014 | 11:53 PM
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There are two methods of "neutral" identification, depending on how your cord is manufactured.

One method is to have separate insulated wires captured within the outer layer; BLACK is HOT,WHITE is NEUTRAL/COMMON, GREEN is GROUND.

If it is a flat cord and the inner wires are not individually insulated, then the center wire should be GROUND; of the remaining two outer wires, one side of the cord should be smooth and the other side have raised ridges/lines running the length of the cord; the smooth side should be HOT and the textured side should be common/neutral.

Although most A/C accessories will work when HOT and COMMON are reversed, for safety's sake it is best to properly identify and wire accordingly, else one could get their hair curled and their teeth rattled when they touch the door-handle.

Although there are a blue-million ways to attach a block-heater cord, a quick and easy improvement over simply adding a new replacement male cord end is to use a 12-AWG outdoor extension cord instead.

The extension cord will have a weather-proof sealed end.

Leave plenty of cord on the male end to route the cord to wherever you prefer and cut off the female end.

Splice the three new extension cord wires onto the existing block-heater wires; solder the connections and seal everything good with heat-shrink.
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Old Oct 6, 2014 | 07:09 PM
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Thanks for the replies. It's the flat cord and I should be able to getter done.

When I stated the PW this morning 42F it seems to run on about 5 cylinders for about 5 minutes. After some heat is built up it runs on all 6. Any idea why one or two cylinders are slow kicking in?
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Old Oct 7, 2014 | 09:20 AM
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Check valve lash. Less compression if the valves are too tight. Injector spray vs. dribble or stream. If the injector is dribbleing or streaming, the fuel is not in mist form, and the fuel won't burn properly.
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Old Oct 7, 2014 | 12:52 PM
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From: Isanti, MN
Fouled spark plug....

Oh wait, this ain't the Ferd forum.
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Old Oct 8, 2014 | 08:29 AM
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From: Streator Illinois
Just a thought,are you sure your KSB is functioning correctly?

Even when mine didn't have functioning heater grid, it didn't run rough for that long......
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Old Oct 11, 2014 | 09:34 PM
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Not sure about the KSB. The pump was serviced so hopefully they did it correctly.

We're camping up here in Glacier Park, Mt. With the truck plugged in overnight the water temp reads about 125F in the cold mornings and it fires right up and runs beautiful! Sure glad I fixed the cord. Thanks for the help.

This picture is at Bowman Lake, Mt. It about 15-20 miles from the Canadian border.
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Old Oct 12, 2014 | 09:07 AM
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From: hesperia ca.
we shot through there in august, no lack of rain, great views on road to the sun, and like the last time I was up there, rain flooded the high road, we saw snow in upper elevations, with all that driving, what are you seeing for mileage towing? we finished off at 6k miles, 360 gallons of fuel, over 17 mpg in some runs, I hold 70, we went up to the north west corner of Washington, then headed to glacier, going south the way the fish swims through the rockies, awesome country up there, enjoy!
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Old Oct 12, 2014 | 10:29 AM
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Sooty, did ok on mileage till I took the light duty ten speed out and put a 47RH auto in it. With the auto and a low-direct-high Brownie Box and 5.38 gears. I get about 9 pulling heavy.

It did have 4.88 gears but would only run about 1,500 rpm at 70 in double over. With the 5.38 it's about 2,000rpm at 60 with one tranny in OD and 1,800 at 70 with both in OD.
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