Hey there. This is going to get a little drawn out so please bear with me.

About three weeks ago I started having problems starting my 83 SD. I got around this by glowing it 2-3 times. It has not been particularly cold here and in fact the car would start easier in the cool of the morning. Many times it would start as soon as the GP light went out. It was harder to start after it was warm and the ritual changed to:
Turn ignition on until GP relay clicks off.
Turn starter over, no start.
Turn key off.
Repeat
About the third time I would turn the glow circuit on, I would hear a gurgle from the engine compartment and this was my signal that the car would start on the next attempt.

The car also would keep running after I would shut the key off. Figured I'd clean out that line at some point but now it won't start. It acts like it did when I had 3 bad glow plugs last year. I have 1 bad now and the temperature is in the 60's/70's so I don't think that one plug is gonna make a difference. Also, the GP light doesn't light anymore. I'll be diving into this over the weekend and wanted your input. What is that gurgle? Actually, what WAS the gurgle. It's not gurgling or starting now.

Thanks in advance and my apologies for the long post.

__________________
Matt Camara
'83 300SD
'85 Celica
'98 Harley Springer Softail

This sounds strange.

I would systematically begin by doing the following:

1. Make sure the glo relay is working. I had one that was intermittant once. Bugged me a bunch. The fuse in that box (on the fender wall, driver's side) should NOT be bent either. Take it out and straighten it or replace it. Sometime the box itself has a loose connection as well.

2. Make sure all your glo plugs are working. If one is bad, change them all. Then there are no doubts.

3. If the car didn't turn off, then you must have knocked a vacuum line off. Simple search. This shouldn't affect the starting however.

As for the gurgle.....????

Don

__________________
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'99.5 Jetta TDI IV 251k (Julie's)
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'84 300D 211k Mint (Arne- Undergoing Greasecar Conversion)

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Don,

Thanks for the reply. The gurgle is hard to describe. It's not like a radiator or heater core gurgle. I thought it was my stomach growling at first. It's a cross between a sizzle and a bubble.
Can't wait to see how much fun you guys have with that.

Subble? Bizzle? Alright, it's out there. Have your fun.

__________________
Matt Camara
'83 300SD
'85 Celica
'98 Harley Springer Softail

The glow light bulb is okay. It will light when the connector for the glow plugs is disconnected from the relay. Could the bad GP keep it from illuminating when it is connected? When I had 3 bad, the light still lit. I'm going to replace all 5 but the last time I did that, I had such a hangover the next day! Not my favorite area to work in.

I have 12 volts to all GP's when I turn the key on. Should I be able to feel them getting warm without removing them and checking to see if they get red hot?

BTW, these are the pencil type, wired in parallel.

The relay seems to be working. That is, the GP's are getting juice. Could the relay still be defective?

Thanks,

Matt

__________________
Matt Camara
'83 300SD
'85 Celica
'98 Harley Springer Softail

Dear mcamara:

1) For a parallel pencil-type glow plug relay system, the GLOW PLUG light (on the dash) will keep BLINKING if any of the glow plugs is bad. If you GP light does not blink even though you do have some bad glow plugs, then your GP relay is bad.

2) You CANNOT feel them getting warm without removing them. You have to remove them and check to see whether they will become RED HOT when your GP relay becomes activated.

The reason why it's almost impossible to feel them getting warm is because an engine head is huge and heat from the red hot glow plugs will quickly dissipate into the head.

Eric