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Pimped Glow Plugs
by
Smokey Eddy
on 25 Sep, 2009 07:14
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I have a switch in the dash that triggers a relay in the engine bay that gives power to my 4 fuses that then power the 4 glow plugs.
I haven't had any issues with this set up but i know a lot of people add a solenoid into the equation. Why is this? is it necessary? I guess obviously not because my set up doesn't have one but what is the benifit? cutting the wait time down?
If i wait 5-7 seconds she fires up right quick. Anyone have experience with going non-solenoid to solenoid?
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#1
by
92EcoDiesel Jetta
on 25 Sep, 2009 07:37
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A solenoid is sometimes used to denote a heavy duty relay. If your relay is sufficient to carry the current, that's all you need. You do not need 4 fuses. One big fuse will do.
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#2
by
Jay
on 25 Sep, 2009 08:43
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I think he means 4 individual fuses to each of the glow plugs.
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#3
by
Vincent Waldon
on 25 Sep, 2009 09:55
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"solenoid" = "relay"... just really heavy duty.
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#4
by
arb
on 25 Sep, 2009 10:13
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"solenoid" = "relay"... just really heavy duty.
Yeah, a solenoid is designed to carry hundreds of amps, a relay could be anything from a few milli-amps to thousands of amps. So, it depends on what your "relay" is designed to carry. Worst case, you wear out the contacts and need to replace it at some point. Best case, it is rated for more than 60 amps and you'll never have a problem.
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#5
by
Vincent Waldon
on 25 Sep, 2009 10:27
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You do not need 4 fuses. One big fuse will do.
Either will work... the advantages of 4 separate fuses include:
- a single bad glow plug doesn't take out the entire system and leave you stranded by blowing the only fuse
- by removing the 4 fuses you can check the current draw/continuity of each glow plug individually while troubleshooting
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#6
by
Smokey Eddy
on 25 Sep, 2009 17:11
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Yes I have 4 fuses just like Vince's method. (which is genius by the way. The not killing all GP's alone makes it worth it not to mention the joy of having a loose lead to test the cont. of each plug.)
My relay is rated for 50 amps and i'm using four 15 amp fuses in a fuse box.
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#7
by
Turbinepowered
on 25 Sep, 2009 17:20
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My own "pimped" method (and the one going in Tim's Dasher, too) still uses the stock relay to retain coolant temp-dependent glow timing. The key switch trips the stock relay, which supplies power to the big mother (My own is an 80-amp 100% duty cycle relay I picked up for free
), which in turn supplies the individual plugs through four fused leads.
No extra switches, no mega load on the stock, expensive relay, independent testing capacity, and a compact package that I wired up to accept one big bulkhead plug for the under-dash/control side and one big bulkhead plug leading to/from the battery and to the plugs.
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#8
by
Smokey Eddy
on 25 Sep, 2009 17:21
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yeah i'd do that if the stock relay wasn't so expensive to replace. That's the best method in my books.
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#9
by
Vincent Waldon
on 25 Sep, 2009 18:40
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Yup... my version of pimped is:
- stock relay drives a bigger relay, mounted in the engine compartment so that all the heavy duty current has very short wire runs, but is still timed automatically off of coolant temperature. Stock relay is gonna last forever in this configuration.
- individually fused 10ga wires to each glow plug, for ease of troubleshooting and redundancy from a fuse perspective
- best troubleshooting feature ever: separate LED on the dash that shows actual power to the glowplugs, as opposed to the idiot light on the dash
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#10
by
Turbinepowered
on 25 Sep, 2009 18:41
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Yup... my version of pimped is:
- stock relay drives a bigger relay, mounted in the engine compartment so that all the heavy duty current has very short wire runs, but is still timed automatically off of coolant temperature. Stock relay is gonna last forever in this configuration.
- individually fused 10ga wires to each glow plug, for ease of troubleshooting and redundancy from a fuse perspective
- best troubleshooting feature ever: separate LED on the dash that shows actual power to the glowplugs, as opposed to the idiot light on the dash
I cut and rewired the indicator light, so it now is a proper indicator. With no "water separator" indicator function in a Dasher, I wasn't losing anything by doing this.
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#11
by
FoXBoXRaCiNG
on 29 Sep, 2009 12:36
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- best troubleshooting feature ever: separate LED on the dash that shows actual power to the glowplugs, as opposed to the idiot light on the dash
I snagged a Ford starter solenoid from PiknPull, the light in my dash goes out, then after the car is started, you hear a significant 'kachunk' as it disengages
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#12
by
rabbitman
on 29 Sep, 2009 12:58
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Yeah I pimped mine too last winter. Everything works good except ever since the install the stock relay clicks on/off real fast for a few seconds before finally going off, not sure why.
My ford solenoid clunks perty loud too
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#13
by
Smokey Eddy
on 29 Sep, 2009 16:01
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I'm having some extremely rough starts now in the morning...
Glow PLugs?
I cut a length of wire to test continuity to all my glow plugs and they all sparked very nicely!! but my starts are just abysmal. Turns over for like 3 seconds before anything happens, chugs rather unpleasantly and makes a huge amount of grey smoke.
I need to hold the pedal to the floor to get it going... This has been the second day,in a row, i've had to do this.
Fuel?
could it be fueling? Heading down my street in 2nd, 3rd is out of the question, violently lurching unless i giver hell on the pedal and coast to the stop sign. Heaps of white out the pipes.
Timing?
It sounds very very rattly like a tin can full of marbles so im sure it's advanced enough, but maybe it's not? I don't actually have a timing gauge to see what it's at. ... i timed to the marks and then pushed the pump as for to the head as it would go.
Lifters?
I'm still using my old lifters out of the old 1.6 head. But once the oil warms the rattle goes away and runs fine and starts fine. Maybe the cold lifters aren't actuating?
It's been as cold as +6C at night.
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#14
by
Turbinepowered
on 29 Sep, 2009 18:05
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I'm having some extremely rough starts now in the morning...
Timing?
It sounds very very rattly like a tin can full of marbles so im sure it's advanced enough, but maybe it's not? I don't actually have a timing gauge to see what it's at. ... i timed to the marks and then pushed the pump as for to the head as it would go.
Isn't that the sound of too much advance?