Glow plug light comes on after starting W210
 

Guys,

In my W210 E300 the glow plug light comes ON and goes OFF as the normal cycle. But the light comes back ON for about 30 seconds after starting the engine then it goes OFF.

I had this since I bought the car few months ago. However a friend of mine reckons something wrong.

Could you please advise

Thanks lots

This mean one or more glow plugs is dead. Or worse the relay. But usually its a glow plug. They can be a pain to change as they can snapp. Be carefulll there.
Olivier

You can tell if a plug is dead when starting on a colder morning (<50) because the engine shakes and runs like crap for about 2 minutes and then the offending cylinder will come to life with a series of "tack...tack tack...tack tack tack" sounds.

The GP relay is on the top of the left front fender - a black box about 4x2x2. You can pull the 6 wire plug and test between the pins and ground to locate the one with the odd resistance. They will all be within a couple 1/10th ohm of one another.

Thanks for your reply Olivier, Just wondering what would make the light come on again if one of the GPs is dead? any technical reason for that to happen?

Thanks for the advise about being carefull. I guess I will have to take the challenge.

It there a way to test GPs before taking them off? I have got a DVM.

Cheers

Thanks Kartek.

I will follow your test and report back.

Thanks for all the help guys

Yuo can test it as Kartek said but you might want to change all of them as the manifold is a wee pain to take in and out.
some like to change the only one who's burned tho. Its up to you.
Olivier

If you do get to changing the, be sure to search threads about it first. We had three that had seized at the threads and would not turn regardless of soaking, heating, etc. Eventually broke two of them and it got worse from there. Ended up pulling the head and having a machine shop remove them. Upside is the head wasn't all that hard to R/R and a valve job only made the car run better. Be sure to put some anti-seize on threads of new GP's to avoid future problems!

When the relay senses current unbalance during the glow cycle, a sure sign of a 'dead' GP, the relay is designed wait and then turn the lamp back ON.

This built-in signal got your attention, didn't it?

Had exactly the same problem with my CDI, one of the glow plugs was dead.

Klann Toolset for your (Potential) difficulty
 

1.Click on Downloads on the left hand side of the page.
2.Then you want either:
KL 0369-30 K
or
KL 0369 31 K

http://www.klann-online.de/Englisch/index.html

I lived with mine in that condition for a few months while I gathered parts and courage for the GP replacement. I do live in the High Desert of Southern California though and the weather doesn't get too cold here.

Yes Jim it did. However, when the light comes back ON again, does this means the GPS are powered up again too?

Thanks

No, GPs have cycled normally but since a fault is sensed, the lamp comes on as a diagnostic message.

Thanks for your reply Jim,

I still have to do some testing to find out which one is dead.

The back GPs are imposible to get to ! I read that the inlet manifold has to be removed. if this is true, what is involved in do it that?

cheers

I bet those are about as pricy as their spring compressor. though I will say, compared to a Chinese similar item then, price goes out the window when we consider quality and dependability of the tool.


I know this is probably a different wiring design than the car the OP is having GP problems with.

My 240D has the GP light flash on from time to time through out the day. I assume this could also be a faulty GP as well? she starts right up w/o the full glow time, and no shaking, very smooth.


Hasn`t been cold here on the west coast yet. Bay Area.

Charlie