Why no glowplugs??

[LoneWolf]

Hi,

  before i start, ive already checked the "search" section, and i couldnt find the info i was after,

  ive just done the inlet, turbo and exhaust gasketts on my 1989 mk2 Golf GTD, and before i took it to bits it would start first time and the glowplug light would come on, but now its all fixed and back together, theres no light for theplugs and it just will NOT start up :?

 Does anyone have any ideas on what the problem could be? eg: fuses, relays, wires etc, and where the hell everything is???



 Cheers,
               Matt

[Vincent Waldon]

 Does anyone have any ideas on what the problem could be? eg: fuses, relays, wires etc,

And the answer is, of course, "yes"... it could be one or more of those things.

My suggestion is to grab a test light and work backwards.  

- is there power at the glow plugs ?
- if not, trace the big red wire back to the fuse bolted to the firewall... check for power on both sides and for a break in the fuse itself
- if not, the problem is most likely the glow plug relay.  It's also already suspect since you say the light is not coming on on the dash.  The glowplug relay is one of the relays on the fuse block... fairly tall and has two very large copper-coloured terminals as part of its base.

If you think it's the relay you can temporarily apply power directly from the battery to the fuse to run the plugs manually for 10-20 seconds or so.  If the engine then starts you've pretty much tested everything.

If you are able to confirm that the glowplugs are getting power then the next step is to confirm that the plugs themselves are working.  This involves measuring the current they draw with a high-capacity ammeter (60A or so) or removing the copper bar between them and testing for continuity to ground with your testlight.

[bigblockchev]

Ditto on the glowplug fuse. It would be in the way of all those things that you worked on. Cheers Dan

[LoneWolf]

Sorry, should have said, i found the problem.


 whilei was chaging gasketts i decided to change the leaky rocker cover gaskett, and when i bolted it down i forgot to bolt on the 2 little earth wires :oops: