I need to use my glowplugs when the engine is hot?

[burn_your_money]

I just got my car back on the road and am starting to notice some weird things about it.
I drove it for 4 hours straight less 15 minutes to get an ice cap and put air in the tires (all highway). I stopped at a mall and went in and bought a card and some other things, it might have taken 15-20 minutes. I went out and tried to start my car, it cranked and cranked but would not start. I had to use my glow plugs to get it started then it fired right up. Is this normal? The engine was still pretty much at normal operating temp.
My car is "special" in that the previous owner cut out the glow plug relay and hooked them and the starter up to push buttons so I'm always guessing at how long to hold the glows for.
This ended up happening a couple of times on the trip, so it wasn't a one time thing.
So is this normal?

[A2TD]

Check your compression...........

[Master ACiD]

i dont think thats normal. my car is also setup with manual glow plugs and after the engines good and warm it can sit for like an hour or 2 and still start up normally without the use of glow plugs.

[burn_your_money]

I'll look into the compression. But it does start up without much trouble at all in the winter.

Could it be because I was driving for such a long time and then stopped that I caused an air lock in the fuel lines or something?

[burn_your_money]

I figured it out. I had a bad starter/bad connection at the starter. I replaced it and cleaned up all the connections and she starts like a charm now.
Thanks for all the help.