[AT] O/T GM diesel question

[Edward Tabor]

Sounds like the glow plugs are bad.

Ed

Cecil E Monson wrote:

>     I have a 98 GMC one ton dump truck with a General Motors diesel
> engine in it. I have not noticed any changes in fuel economy or anything
> but it has all of a sudden become hard to start. The last couple days
> when the temperature was around 30 degrees, which should not be a 
> problem,
> it would barely fire and would run on only one or two cylinders and blows
> clouds of smoke until all cylinders are firing. Once running, it starts
> and runs normally for the rest of the day. This engine is not a Duramax
> diesel engine but was made a year before they made the switch.
>
>     If this were my JD crawler with the diesel engine, I would suspect
> that several glow plugs were bad but as I have not been able to find a
> manual for this engine, I have no idea if it has glow plugs or not or
> where to look. The dash has a "Wait to Start" light which works normally
> so something is pre-heating - or is supposed to.
>
>     It has a block heater but I can't see keeping it plugged in when
> the temperature is only 30 degrees.
>
>     If you have any actual experience with this engine, I would
> appreciate hearing from you, on or off List.
>
> Cecil