(Home) Glowplugs / preheaters

hi,

having recently got my townace back from a headgasket replacement i now have a problem with the glow plugs.

it looks as though the mechanic lost a piece when refitting the electrical connections. it seems that the piece was some kind of resistor that fitted between two terminals in front of the glow plugs and to the right. they second upright terminal is no longer connected to the forward one or anything.

the garage are saying that this resistor ( or whatever it was is uninportant.

however , when i start now the glowplug dash light does not allways light fully and there is a nasty buzzing noise from what i take to be a relay of somekind in the door pillar.
the car would not start at all this morning and is now in the garage again. however they say on the phone that they have recharged the battery and all is ok.

can anyone tell me more about the need for this "resistor" strap before i go back there tomorrow?


- (#12031) Steve, 8 Jul 04 10:03

oh dear. shades of mr dunse here... the resistor sticking out of the manifold has to connect to the glowplugs to make them work, although whether you use the original sensing resistor or a piece of mecanno is up to you. i'll bet that the nasty buzzing noise is caused by the plonkers connecting one of the earth wires onto the glowplug resistor instead of onto the manifold by the injector pipe clamp.
there should be a thick loom with a couple of big eyelet connectors connected to the resistor sticking out of the side of the manifold, and (iirc) a smaller eyelet with two white/black wires- that one goes to earth.
hth

- (#12031) David Miller, 8 Jul 04 10:38

Top marks for remembering that David, my mechanic made the exact same error.

- (#12031) dave Bright (Bournemouth), 8 Jul 04 11:10

Are we talking about the resistor that comes out horizontally from the manifold or the thread that sticks up vertically from the manifold and connects the glowplug 'bridge' to the horizontal resistor?

It seems that mechanics love to screw these connections up as they did on mine 4 years ago and I'm still suffering the after effects now.

- (#12031) Ian Dunse (Derbs), 9 Jul 04 01:31

Some confusion here I think Ian. Your burnt thing that looks like a giant glowplug is the resistor for the afterglow. If you look at the diagram in the manual it refers to a "sensing resistor"- that's the metal bridge(or wire in some cases) that links the resistor to the standoff atop the manifold- the spade terminal on that sends back a voltage to the timer/ computer which is relative to the current flowing. I've never been able to ascertain what this feedback function was for- the glowplugs continue to work with it disconnected, and there's no possibility for diagnostics via the computer. Strange.

- (#12031) David Miller, 9 Jul 04 08:18

Interesting I've never seen a spade connector on mine

- (#12031) Ian Dunse (Derbs), 9 Jul 04 09:03

A black connector on a dangly wire, coming out of that link- wire between the resistor and the standoff? Strange, yours and mine were very similar in age...

- (#12031) David Miller, 9 Jul 04 09:59

Well a huge thank you!

It was the earth wires , and yes they had been connected to one of the other terminals. I went back armed with your email and within half an hour my Townie was back running fine.

For me, proof if needed , that this is an excellent site :-) Thank you.


P.S. the plonkers said thanks too, lol.

- (#12031) Steve, 10 Jul 04 15:21