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glow plug electrics help

Posted: 02 Jun 2011, 19:45
by campercrazy1
howdy, been trying to work this out for a while.im beginning to narrow it down and hope someone can help!

i've established there is constant power (red thick wire) to the glow plug relay when the battery is connected up.

when i turn on the ignition though the power does not reach the glow plugs and there is no clicking at the relay. relay is new today!

there is a click at the fuel pump though when the ignition is switched on.

these are the connections at the relay: can anybody shed light on if they are right/whether they need to be connected

50- red/black (not connected)
87 -thick red wire to metal strip fuse thing
30 -thick red wire- goes to glow plugs
L-red/white (not connected)
T- white/blue (not connected)
86- black fuel pump
85 firstly brown whch connects with blue/balck- conected to sensor at end of block (clutch end), green/blue connnected to expansion tank, yellow/red- not connected- bu the lable says 'stud at top end of pipe' any ideas where this should go?

any advice greatfully recieved- my aim is to get to some some show at the tail end of the summer- fingers crossed!

Re: glow plug electrics help

Posted: 02 Jun 2011, 20:57
by colinthefox
50 red/black to starter (live when starter running)
87 big red to glow plugs.
30 big red from strip fuse.
L red/white to indicator light on dash.
T white/blue to temperature sensor on back of cylinder head.
86 black to fuel pump/ignition.
85 brown earth wire (joins up with brown earths from all sorts of other stuff)

yellow/red coolant temperature gauge sender (on bypass hose flange)
blue/green coolant shortage switch (on top of expansion bottle).

Re: glow plug electrics help

Posted: 02 Jun 2011, 20:58
by Aberdeenbus
Hi,

when doing my TD engine conversion i found this helpfull.

http://www.4crawler.com/Diesel/GlowPlug.shtml" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Cheers
Si

Re: glow plug electrics help

Posted: 04 Jun 2011, 17:16
by campercrazy1
hey thanks guys, hopefully get a chance to have a play in a few weeks-i'll let you know how it goes!

thanks again

Re: glow plug electrics help

Posted: 03 Aug 2011, 14:43
by campercrazy1
hey, FINALLY having a chance to tinker with the van- which Im enjoying in all this sun!

I have had a tinker with the wiring BUT STILL NO POWER TO THE GLOW PLUGS!

is it connection 50 (i.e the red/black to the starter) which flicks the to get power to the plugs?

At the moment i have connected directly to the red wire which attaches to the small terminal on the backer of the starter (solenoid)? is this right or do i need a wire coming from the ignition to the relay? in my head i m thinking this is wroing because surely the glowplugs need to be heated(have power) before the starter is running?

thanks craig

Re: glow plug electrics help

Posted: 03 Aug 2011, 15:13
by ewenmaclean
Hello,

normally speaking the 50 pin turns off the glow plug relay so that all power is diverted to the starter, so no you don't want ignition live to 50. As Colinthefox has said, what you need is ignition live to 86, a good earth to 85, and positive coming from the 50 amp fusible link. I'd check the continuity to earth, and you have 12v with ignition on only to 86. I'd disconnect the T connection until you have it working to rule out a temperature sensor fault.

Hope this helps a bit

Ewen

Re: glow plug electrics help

Posted: 03 Aug 2011, 16:19
by campercrazy1
cheers ewen ill go and investigate

Re: glow plug electrics help

Posted: 03 Aug 2011, 19:44
by campercrazy1
whoops- blew the strip fuse! does anybody know where you can get them still? direct through still?

Re: glow plug electrics help

Posted: 03 Aug 2011, 19:51
by weldore
type DURITE FUSE into ebay :ok

Re: glow plug electrics help

Posted: 03 Aug 2011, 21:12
by campercrazy1
cheers- i just assume it was a vw specific thing- extra pleased i asked now!

Re: glow plug electrics help

Posted: 28 Aug 2011, 12:06
by psychonaut
This is an interesting thread. I changed my glow-plugs yesterday, and the old ones were definitely FUBARed as three of them were covered in soot :shock:

However, the glow-plug light on the dash (and the relay in the engine bay) is still staying on for an awfully long time, longer than it should in August anyway. I'm guessing that the next thing I need to be looking at is the engine temperature sensor in the head? Is this the one on the gearbox side of the head?

Re: glow plug electrics help

Posted: 28 Aug 2011, 19:01
by colinthefox
Temperature sender is on the water flange at the back (that's the front!) of the cylinder head. Blue/white wire.

Re: glow plug electrics help

Posted: 28 Aug 2011, 19:49
by psychonaut
Thanks Colin. I've got a black and green wire going into a sensor on the back of my head in roughly the area you mention. I'm going to go and investigate...

Re: glow plug electrics help

Posted: 28 Aug 2011, 21:53
by psychonaut
Hi again Colin - I had a look again, and sure enough, I have a blue/white wire coming out of a multi-connector on the water flange - it has been cut.
There are four other wires coming out of that connector: -

a red/yellow one, which goes to earth
a brown one which has been cut
another brown one, which is crimped onto a green/yellow one coming out of the same connector

I can't tally any of these up with the wiring diagrams in the Bentley manual.

There is a thicker blue/white wire from the glow-plug relay which disappears into the loom.

There is another blue/white wire which runs from the sensor on the oil filter housing into the loom.

Confused? I know I am!! Can you, or indeed anyone else, shed any light on this real mess of a wiring job?

Re: glow plug electrics help

Posted: 28 Aug 2011, 21:57
by weldore
if you dont get any joy Greg..ill take a look at mine in the morning..but im colourblind..so anything could happen...