Starting aid for cold starts

TomA · Post by **TomA** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 12:49 pm

Several years ago the glow plug system failed on my '82 diesel pickup. The relay stuck on and fried the glow plugs. After that I disconnected them completely so they are non operational. Since that time I use a little starting fluid. The trick is to use very little. I just give it a slight squirt in the air intake horn. It takes a few revs of the starter to draw it through the air filter and into the intake. Then it fires up just like it did with the glow plugs. I think it is even better because the engine gets a little oil pressure before it fires.

Remember my glow plug system is disconnected. Never try starting fluid with working glow plugs, that is where you can run into trouble. Starting fluid is no longer "ether" , it may contain some ether but is a specially formulated product made for this use. Also WD 40 is no longer starting fluid, it apparently worked for that purpose at one time but has since been reformulated. I find it useless for anything.

Tom

jolotter · Post by **jolotter** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 10:53 pm

I pulled the glow plugs yesterday as my wife wasn't too keen on having a car she couldn't start. It was a good day as the sun was shining and it was well above freezing.
The result: One plug twisted apart as I tried to undo the bus bar nut and the other three tested dead on the battery.
So I went to get 4 new plugs. I also got a replacement glow plug fuse as the one on the car seems to have been cut with snips from a piece of sheet metal. Probably not much protection there.
Well the terminals on the new plugs were different colours from the ones I took out. Silver instead of brass. ??? After sceptically quizzing my parts guy who assured me they were right, I took them home. The car now starts and runs beautifully.

So it seems that the plugs in the car were all fast plugs. In October, when I bought the car non-running, with a "broken timing belt," I found two burnt-out plugs, and swapped them for good ones from the spare engine that came with the car. It started great until it got really cold and then never started again without the starting aid. I probably only started it 5 or 6 times before it quit. All FAST plugs. Not only do they glow fast but they they burn out fast too when used with a slow glow relay. Probably blew the fuse a couple of times on th PO since they pull 12 Amps instead of 9. I'm lucky it didn't fry the relay.

I even thought as I tested the first new plug on the battery, "This one's no good!" because it took about 10 seconds to start to glow. Slow

Since it was so nice out, I stuck the dial gauge in the IP to see how my tuning by ear fared. Not very well. Being afraid of over-advancing it I had set it at about .80mm. I advanced it to 1.00 on the dial. I'm hoping for an improvement in fuel economy

In 4th gear it was really easy to move the engine back and forth by pushing and pulling the car. Way better than last time a had a socket and bar on the crankshaft bolt.

Thanks for all your helpful responses.

Post by **Fatmobile** » Sat Apr 12, 2008 12:40 am

Get a set of duraterms and have them ready when these burn out.
You'll be impressed with how fast they glow, and they can handle being on for a long time so the slow glow relay isn't a problem.
There's even a relay that keeps them on for minutes after the car is started.

canman · Post by **canman** » Sat May 31, 2008 10:42 am

has anyone heard of "flame start" that's what i want. it's a heating coil that has a wax motor valve that you feed fuel to. you put it in your intake manifold. so you give it a couple seconds to heat up and start cranking the engine it sends gouts of flames into the engine heating the cylinders for an easy cold start. I'v heard of engines that will start at -40 with no problem with this system..... just one downside, sometimes the valve leaks and you A) have crank case dilution, or B) have some... over fueling.....hmmmm always a down side....

JRM · Post by **JRM** » Sat May 31, 2008 9:54 pm

never herd of that, but dodge cummins and 2007+ chev duramax engines have a heating coil in the air intake that really aids in cold staring and zero smoke at starup

jolotter · Post by **jolotter** » Sat May 31, 2008 10:25 pm

Well two months down the road now and all four plugs are burnt out. Autolite. Don't pay 10 cents for them! I relaced them with, (tearing my hair out in anticipation,) four used plugs. Two bosch, two unknown, but not Autolite.

So, for the record, do all VW TDs use the same plugs, and are they fast or slow and what's identifies that? I thought I knew but theres just too much conflicting info.

Johann

JRM · Post by **JRM** » Sun Jun 01, 2008 11:21 am

I picked up some new one at the local "vw" shop (non dealer) and he said that all of the plugs sold today work in both fast and slow systems. I also made the mistake of buhing non-bosch and wish i had spend the extra $$ on bosch as they are already failing