My little red truck is having some issues when it gets cold. It's a 92 D250 with nothing more than a tweak of the fuel screw, deleted muffler, and 279,500 miles.

This morning it was 34 degrees when I started the truck. I gave the grid heaters time to cycle before punching the starter.
The engine spun for 10 seconds or more before there was any appreciable ignition. One by one the cylinders began to hit but I had to continue running the starter. When all the holes seemed to be hitting I released the key. It rattled, shook, and filled the air with smoke. After another 10 seconds or so it smoothed out into a normal idle. The grid heaters stayed on for a while.


What would cause the truck to be that difficult to start on a cold morning?

When the engine is warm (or the temp is over 50 degrees) I can bump the starter and the engine fires up the first time it rolls over.

 

Check your KSB solenoid for operation. An ohm meter will tell you if the coil is bad. Jumping it to the battery while it is running warmed up will tell you if it is working. You will hear a slight audible change in the engine sound. Also, adding a little throttle while cranking when cold is recommended.

 

Next, how do you know your grid heaters are functioning?

Wait to start light or do you see the dimming of the lights, etc?

I agree it is either KSB or your solenoids for the GH are not working.

 

I can hear the relays clunking and they're sucking the lights way down.

The truck has been a little fussy like this for a while but it hasn't been my daily driver in years.

 

Feel your grid heater after cycling it should be very warm.

What is your idle speed at? If its too low they are hard to start cold. Holding light pressure on the pedal will help that. A dirty Fuel filter can do it as well. Agree with checking the KSB too.

 

I'm thinking air intrusion.

 

does your injection pump leak,,mine does and if it sets for a while it loses prime to the injectors and is very hard and slow to start unless i bleed some of the injectors

 

Yep, that is my guess as well at this point.

OP, Use the priming lever to fill the pump before your next cold start and see how it goes.

 

I rarely have problems starting the truck with the temperature is above 50 or so. In fact, I can't think of the last time that happened.

I had a leak on the pump but fixed it with the Harbor Freight o-ring.

Now I need to stop the leak on the vacuum pump.

 

When I got mine, it started great above 50, but if it dropped below about 20 it ran just like you describe. My lift pump was also leaking.

I changed to a piston lift pump and never had a problem.

 

Interesting.

I don't think mine is leaking. At least not externally.

It was 30 degrees this morning. From the time I put the key in until the idle smoothed out was about 20 seconds. I did not have much of an issue starting it.

 

I agree with some of the others above...your getting air in the line somewhere. I had a work truck that would start the first bump of the starter if it was used every day. If it set for a week or so it was tough to start. IIRC it was the fuel heater leaking, but it has been several years since the truck went on to a new owner.