I don't usually have a topic because the search is very helpful. this time the search is still helpful but i have a quick question. my gow plug light does not come on as of 3 days ago. the car still starts with no problems. i checked the lamp in the cluster to make sure it was not blown and the lamp is working. my question is "IS THIS A WARNING TO REPLACE MY GLOW PLUGS?"

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ez rider

You don't mention what car this is for, so this could be wrong. But..

On my '82 300TD (OM617 engine), the glow plug light not lighting up indicates that two or more glow plugs are dead. If the weather is warm where you are, you might be starting fine on 3 glow plugs, but come cold weather, you'll need the other two.

Do some searches on how to test the glow plugs, I bet you'll find two dead ones. The basic procedure for the parallel glow plug cars (like the 617), is to pull the plug behind the driver's side headlight that all the glow plug wires connect to (just follow a glow plug wire back to the plug). Then use a multimeter set to read resistance (ohms), put one contact of the multimeter solidly against a grounded part of the engine or frame, and then use the other contact of the multimeter to check each of the pins in the plug, to check each glowplug without groping around in there and scratching your hands up.

The glow plugs should show less than 1.0 ohms of resistance. If any show more than 1.0, or show an open contact (infinite resistance), they are in need of replacement. I recommend the 9.99$ Bosch 80006 glow plugs from Autozone, they are cheap and reliable.

Hope this helps.

peace,
sam

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"That f***in' biodiesel is makin' me hungry."

1982 300TD Astral Silver w/ 250k (BIO BNZ)
2001 Aprilia SR50 Corsa Red w/ 5.5k (>100 MPG)

THANKS

by the way i have a 1986 300sdl

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ez rider

If the light doesn't come on you have a burned out glowplug.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200