[Vwdiesel] glow plug

[Dave Heart]

When i bought my used pickup (now a very small motorhome) years ago, the previous owner killed the glow plugs and had a bunch of dead relays in glove box. So I added a Ford type solenoid relay by the big fuse and at dash added small pushbutton and a flashing yellow led light. Has been very reliable and I like hearing the relay going on and off when releasing after 15 seconds or so.

From: vwdiesel-request at vwfans.com
Subject: Vwdiesel Digest, Vol 123, Issue 13
To: vwdiesel at vwfans.com
Date: Mon, 13 Jan 2014 12:00:02 -0800

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--Forwarded Message Attachment--From: db53248 at windstream.net
To: vwdiesel at vwfans.com
Date: Sun, 12 Jan 2014 17:53:57 -0600
Subject: [Vwdiesel] Caddy glow plug light acting up

What is the Caddy trying to tell me? Last week, when we had the below 
zero weather, I drove the truck to work and then had a panic attack when 
I went to go home and the glow plug failed to light when I turned the 
key. I turned it off and back on and the light came on normally and the 
engine started. The next day, in the garage in the morning, the glow 
plug light came on but was dim. I turned it off and back on and the glow 
plug light lit normally and I drove the Caddy to work. When I went to 
leave, I had the same scenario. Today, I went to put the Caddy in the 
garage for the night and it took two trys of no light and then it lit 
and the engine started normally.
Is this an indication of a faulty relay under the dash? If not the 
relay, what is the Caddy trying to tell me?
 
--Forwarded Message Attachment--From: jhsg at sasktel.net
To: db53248 at windstream.net; vwdiesel at vwfans.com
Date: Sun, 12 Jan 2014 19:06:33 -0600
Subject: Re: [Vwdiesel] Caddy glow plug light acting up

My absolutely favorite thing to install is a cheater light to tell me if the
glow plug bus bar is getting power or not.  Without it you don't quite have
enough information to really figure out stuff Doug.  Did you try cranking
after the no light condition and it didn't start?  Most likely the relay, or
the relay plug has issues.  Did this coincide with washing the car a day or
so earlier?  Might have a windshield gasket leak that dribbles down on the
relay and causes all sorts of fun things like harness plug(s) corrosion,
high resistance connections causing heat melting the harness to fuse panel
plugs, etc..
-james
 
-----Original Message-----
From: vwdiesel-bounces at vwfans.com [mailto:vwdiesel-bounces at vwfans.com] On
Behalf Of Doug
Sent: January-12-14 5:54 PM
To: vwdiesel at vwfans.com
Subject: [Vwdiesel] Caddy glow plug light acting up
 
What is the Caddy trying to tell me? Last week, when we had the below zero
weather, I drove the truck to work and then had a panic attack when I went
to go home and the glow plug failed to light when I turned the key. I turned
it off and back on and the light came on normally and the engine started.
The next day, in the garage in the morning, the glow plug light came on but
was dim. I turned it off and back on and the glow plug light lit normally
and I drove the Caddy to work. When I went to leave, I had the same
scenario. Today, I went to put the Caddy in the garage for the night and it
took two trys of no light and then it lit and the engine started normally.
Is this an indication of a faulty relay under the dash? If not the relay,
what is the Caddy trying to tell me?
_______________________________________________
Vwdiesel mailing list
Vwdiesel at vwfans.com
http://www.audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/vwdiesel
 
 
--Forwarded Message Attachment--From: r.c.brown at ieee.org
To: vwdiesel at vwfans.com
Date: Sun, 12 Jan 2014 18:17:56 -0800
Subject: Re: [Vwdiesel] Caddy glow plug light acting up

Yes, could be most anything.  The dash light has almost nothing to do with the rest of the 
glow plug system other than it comes out of the relay module:
     http://www.4crawler.com/Diesel/GlowPlug.shtml
It may simply be the relay module got an out of range temp signal and did not turn on the 
dash light.  I've seen some relays do strange things like that, but the real Bosch relays 
seem to handle things much more predictably.
 
And yes, adding a real glow plug indicator is very handy.  I used some of those ricer LED 
washer nozzles.  They work better than the (NLA) stock washer nozzles and the wiring is a 
piece of cake as it is all under the hood:
http://www.4crawler.com/Diesel/CheapTricks/GlowPlugs.shtml#IndicatorLight
I actually need to separate the wires to those LEDs, putting one to each side of the 
fusible link.  I currently have both hooked to the glow plug side now.
 
 
On 1/12/2014 5:06 PM, James Hansen wrote:
> My absolutely favorite thing to install is a cheater light to tell me if the
> glow plug bus bar is getting power or not.  Without it you don't quite have
> enough information to really figure out stuff Doug.  Did you try cranking
> after the no light condition and it didn't start?  Most likely the relay, or
> the relay plug has issues.  Did this coincide with washing the car a day or
> so earlier?  Might have a windshield gasket leak that dribbles down on the
> relay and causes all sorts of fun things like harness plug(s) corrosion,
> high resistance connections causing heat melting the harness to fuse panel
> plugs, etc..
> -james
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: vwdiesel-bounces at vwfans.com [mailto:vwdiesel-bounces at vwfans.com] On
> Behalf Of Doug
> Sent: January-12-14 5:54 PM
> To: vwdiesel at vwfans.com
> Subject: [Vwdiesel] Caddy glow plug light acting up
>
> What is the Caddy trying to tell me? Last week, when we had the below zero
> weather, I drove the truck to work and then had a panic attack when I went
> to go home and the glow plug failed to light when I turned the key. I turned
> it off and back on and the light came on normally and the engine started.
> The next day, in the garage in the morning, the glow plug light came on but
> was dim. I turned it off and back on and the glow plug light lit normally
> and I drove the Caddy to work. When I went to leave, I had the same
> scenario. Today, I went to put the Caddy in the garage for the night and it
> took two trys of no light and then it lit and the engine started normally.
> Is this an indication of a faulty relay under the dash? If not the relay,
> what is the Caddy trying to tell me?
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