[Vwdiesel] cycling glowplugs

[LBaird119 at aol.com]

  My experience has been that if the battery is marginal when REALLY 
cold then two glow cycles and then cranking seems more reliable than 
glow once and cranking more.  Cranking speed drops off before critical 
heat is reached and the engine starts.  With two glows, the draw on 
the battery seems to be a little "shallower" still leaving reserve to 
crank it over at speed.  Never found where more than about 2 1/2 
glow cycles did any more than just drain the battery.  This was 
with slow plugs.  The newer and faster plugs kick out heat so 
much higher average heat that 2 cycles might even not be 
necessary.  
  The whole point is heat saturation only high enough to start the 
car.  The longer you heat, the more heat you dissapate and "lose."
Lose more heat, use more battery regardless of voltage.  
  Either heat the engine, heat all/most of the incoming air, or heat 
just enough to allow compression to get it hot enough to start. 
Choice is yours.
  A short crank of one or two revolutions before glowing seems to 
help in faster starting.  Sure did on the 5.7.
    Loren