[Vwdiesel] wanted: glow plug relay harness

[Val Christian]

Will,

One of my several 79 Rabbits was bought pre-owned.  I called it the 
Heath Kit Rabbit.  I was a ham, my neighbor was a ham, and his friend
was a ham.  His friend had the 79, put something like 80K miles on it
in 18 months, and had the cylinder head off of it, and in my neighbor's
garage.  After a couple of months, in the disassembled state, the
neighbor was getting tired of lifting his girl's trikes and wagons
up and around the project car.  The prior owner had given up and 
bought a new car, which he continued to live in, putting about 50K
miles a year on.  And I had an opportunity to get another Rabbit, 
this one with pre-installed ham antennas, and a sunroof.

The deal was cut, and it was one I could afford.  I think I've paid more
for three or four carpentry tools.  The car was readied for transport, 
and a lawn tractor pulled it from my neighbor's garage to mine.
Several boxes of parts were carried in one of his girl's wagons, 
and we pulled the radio gear out to make room for mine.

A month later, I had one more car than I needed.  I managed to run that
car over 300K miles.

So what does this have to do with glow plugs?  Well the prior owner 
had the glow plug relay timer circuit fail on him, after the car was 
out of warranty.  Back then, the glow plug relay was between $50 and
$80.  (1979 dollars!)  Rather than buy another, he bought a "coordinated"
VW foglight switch.  So to start the car, one manually glowed with the
foglight switch.  I always considered it a form of a poorman's anti-theft
device.  Because this car would have been impossible to start nine
months out of the year without cycling the glow plugs, unless it was
already warmed up.  

So if you can't get a GP harness, just hook up a relay.  Possibly even 
a foglight relay, with a rating of 40 amps, though.

Val





> 
> Hi all, I'm still getting the frankenjetta ready for winter in Alaska.
> I'm still trying to get a glow relay installed in the converted jetta.
> 
> A kind soul pulled what looked like a glow relay harness and sent it to
> me, but alas it was something close but not quite right. (maybe a fuel
> pump relay?? right number of sockets, but the plugs aren't big enough
> for the relay.)  :(
> 
> The junkyards up here won't cut wires, $100 for the glow plug harness
> (with everything else attached).  I can still buy the plastic plate that
> everything clips into, but nothing with the female-spade connectors and
> wires.
> 
> The jetta is a converted 8v, so there is a plug on the fuse box, but the
> glow system is all wired through a push-button right now, and it would
> be easier just to attach wires than to fiddle with the "real" wiring
> harness.
> 
> Anyone have a glow plug relay harness (I'm thinking of the one on my 81
> pickup) that I can $$??  (Before I bite the bullet and head down to
> radio shack and get out the soldering iron?)
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Will
> Chugiak, AK
> 81 vw 1.6L NA diesel pickup 
> 94 vw 1.6L TD frankenjetta
> and of course the minivan :)
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Vwdiesel mailing list
> Vwdiesel at vwfans.com
> http://www.audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/vwdiesel
>