[Vwdiesel] cycling glowplugs

[Shawn Wright]

On 14 Feb 2005 at 12:03, SLATERSFB at aol.com <SLATERSFB at aol.com> wrote:

> My '81 N/A pick up has direct drive starter & never seems to crank very fast
> ever, so glowplugs get cycled twice at most. This leaves enough battery to
> start. On the other hand, Gina, my '91 N/A Jetta and daily driver, has gear
> drive starter which spins engine much faster, so I only cycle glowplugs once. So
> far she always starts best this way.
> 
> By far the the biggest influence on cold starts I have found to be the use of
> synthetic oil. Up until this year I had always used 15w40 fossil oil & start up
> below zero degrees F was always dicey. This year I switched to 15w50 Mobil One.
> The coldest it has been here so far is -12F & I had no problems starting either
> vehicle. With fossil oil, the pick up never would have started; Jetta, maybe. I
> know that where you are temps get much colder than this, but synthetic oil's
> gotta help. 
> 
> I played around with glow plugs on 6 volts; they glow dull red at that voltage,
> and each one draws about 6 amps. Probably need lower voltage supply for
> longevity of plugs. I don't know if old toy train transformer can handle those
> amps, but that is a thought. 

Just a warning - if it is the same old Mobil 1 found at Walmart, it is probably not 
diesel rated. Check for at least a CF rating. Around here, Walmart sells several 
diesel rated synthetics, some for less than Mobil 1. Delo 400 and Delvac 1 are both 
good choices, but any diesel rated synth will be better at suspending soot than 
regular Mobil 1. It's a good oil, just not for diesels.

--
Shawn Wright
I.T. Manager
Shawnigan Lake School