[Vwdiesel] Starter problems-VW Rabbit pickup

[Val Christian]

In 1978, with replacement glow plug relays from VW costing far too much,
and no aftermarket ones available...I wired a rabbit fog light switch in
to operate the glow plugs.  Used it for the next 300Kmiles.

Might not work as well for a TDI, which apparently uses the glow plugs 
after startup for emissions.  But the early VW glow plug relays seemed 
to fail all the time.

Oh, I wired the foglight switch to the relay, which I took the cover off
of, and gutted the rotten electronics.  The contacts lasted for the life 
of the car.  The electronics didn't last 25K miles back then.  It was a 
problem that several owners had.

> 
> Don't know if this will solve your problems but several years ago, I had a 1979 VW air-cooled microbus. The starter wasn't getting enough voltage to the starter solenoid. Rather than go to the cost of replacing the ignition switch, I bought an aftermarket starter button & wired it to the starter solenoid. Probably not the right way to fix it but it worked for me. 
> I did the same on my 1981 Dasher. Instead of replacing the glow plug relay, I got a Ford solenoid & used a push button to activate the glow plugs manually & it worked.
> Bill Toensing, Nevada City, CA
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