replacing glow plug relay

[danielsender]

Hi,

I need some help on my VW Beetle TDI 1998. The problem started when the coil light indicator on the panel started flashing instead of being steady. At certain point the light didn't turn on anymore and the car didn't start. I checked to resistance of each glow plug and they seem all correct (just a couple of ohms each). I also checked the voltage at the harness when the ignition was turned on and there was no voltage there. So I pressumed that the problem was with the glow plug relay. I went to a store near my home (allied auto parts) and got what it was labeled as a glow plug relay for the Beetle TDI 1998. However when I extracted the old relay I saw that the number of pins and their layout was different from the new one. I had the bad idea of removing the old one and now I can't inserted back (the old one). The position is extremely unconfortable and I don't have a picture with the right placement of all the relays. The ones I found by googling don't seem to be the same. So I have a couple of questions:

1. This is the layout of the original one: http://cds.activant.com/C2C/C01/36/094/558034674.jpg , and the new one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/BECK-ARNLEY-203 ... 47&vxp=mtr ; can they be interchanged?

2. I need a picture of the relay panel to re-insert these relays.

Many thanks in advance.

Daniel

[Quantum-man]

The second one looks more like a mk2 load reduction relay. A glowplug relay is like yours, and has several circuits inside surely later stuff will be similar... Need to check those numbers...

Yep, the second one is a general purpose defog/load reduction relay 'x contact' used on every thing mk1 mk2, and later no doubt. Nothing to do with glow plugs and probably about 10A short of glowplug power

[danielsender]

OK - I would now need a panel layout so I don't mess up at plugging these relays.

Thanks.

Daniel

[Fatmobile]

I'm going to move this over to the TDI forum so people having a similar problem will be able to find it.

[surfcam]

IF the earlier Bentley's are like the MK II Bentley they should have a good pictures of the electrical panel. I wouldn't buy the online addition like I did after my computer cratered I was left with no manual.

[danielsender]

None of the pictures I found on the internet look similar to the relay panel that I see in my VW Beetle 1998 tdi. Also I didn't find on the internet the pictures that are in the Bentley Manual. I wonder if a someone could post a good picture of that.

Many thanks in advance.

Daniel

[danielsender]

I replaced the glow plug relay and it seems that is starting OK, I didn't actually measure voltage at the glow plug harness because it was dark, tomorrow I'll do. But I have two remaining issues:

1. The light representing the glow plug power starts to blink after a few seconds of starting the engine. Is this because there is some reset that has to be applied to the computer?

2. In order to reach the glow plug relay (180) I removed the windshield wiper relay (337). When I put 337 back, the windshield wipers work but there is buzzing coming from the relay. The noise disappears when I remove this relay 337. Given the number of pins of this relay it is hard to push it all the way, there is about 1/2 mm of clearance between the bottom of the relay and the panel. If the wipers work, shouldn't that indicate that all the pins are properly connected? Or the noise is another computer indication?

Thanks a lot.

Daniel

[danielsender]

Here I am again. I am wondering if the buzzing noise is the result of having removed the relay and plugging it again without resetting the computer. Does anybody know if that is a possibilty?

Thanks,

Daniel

[Fatmobile]

On an old Rabbit:
a buzzing glow plug relay can mean a bad relay ground.
I'm not sure where the glow plug is grounded on the TDIs.

[danielsender]

The buzzing relay is the wiper one that I first removed to better access the spot of the glow plug relay. This has a big number (337) printed on the top.