91 Town Ace with turbo diesel "D" I think. Glow plug light comes on for about 1 second no matter if it is hot or cold... Engine hard to start in the morning but runs great when warmed up... suspect it is a glow plug relay! Where would I find this animal on my van and how long should that light stay on for in the morning? I am somewhat familiar with diesels and thougt it should be about 8 seconds. Any help will be appreciated! Oh yeah, Just changed all the glow plugs and still have the problem!
Thanks!
Rob
- (#7575) Rob, 7 Jan 04 02:58
There's a primary and a secondary afterglow relay in the circuit.
I had a problem with mine a couple of years ago and replaced the primary relay with no improvement. My problem was that some erk had shorted out the connections on the inlet manifold. The relevance is that throughout this period, the glowlight came on for about 8 seconds irrespective of whether the plugs were glowing or not. This leads me to think that your problem lies with the temp sensor or the timer. I'll dig out the circuit diagram and send it you.
BTW the primary relay is located next to the EGR and the secondary is in the passenger side B pillar.
- (#7575) Ian Dunse (Derbs), 7 Jan 04 03:25
Mines next to the fuel filter on the bulkhead, also the warm start one is in the B piller I believe. About 8 seconds, sounds like yours is not doing anything, not connected or temp sensor not doing it's job? Not sure if the light on the dash is just a on ignition test.
- (#7575) Clive (bristol), 7 Jan 04 03:31
Ahaaa the wonders of the internet.. thanks for the info but I'm not sure what the "B" pillar is... can you explain that a little more?
Rob
- (#7575) Rob, 7 Jan 04 03:38
What would be the central pillar on a normal car, in our case the one that the front seat belts are bolted to. A Pillar houses windscreen, C pillar the rear window/hatch.
- (#7575) Clive (Bristol), 7 Jan 04 03:51
Many thanks for the help! I'm gonna go dig into my van right now and see what I can find!
Rob
- (#7575) Rob, 7 Jan 04 04:04
Rob,
My liteace does the same - light wise!
In my opinion, you need to put a voltmeter across the glow plug and watch what, if any, voltage passes when you switch on the ignition, in order to determine if (a) you have power to them (b) for how long you have power and then if you still have concerns, "carefully" remove one. Wet it with Diesel or white spirit and short it out across the battery for a few seconds only. If it steams off the fuel its working.
If I recall correctly I had 12 volts for about 5 secs then it dropped to about 8 volts. I also seem to remember reading somewhere that a residual heating ( voltage )continues for over one minute.
I did this following trouble restarting, after replacing the head gasket to confirm glow plugs were working.
Hope this helps.
- (#7575) stephen judge ( Belfast ), 7 Jan 04 17:11
Rob
You have mail
- (#7575) Ian Dunse (Derbs), 8 Jan 04 08:28