Glow Plug Re-Wiring
Moderator: Fatmobile
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- Turbo Charger
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- Location: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Yeah, depending on the solenoid it can:
(a) draw a fair bit of current all on its own
(b) overheat... some starter solenoids are designed for duty cycles of 30 seconds or less... on an AAZ the glow plugs run for several minutes of afterglow
For both those reasons and the most important reason of all (c) Vince is a cheap you-know-what I picked a commonly-available garden tractor starter solenoid stocked by NAPA.... rated for continuous duty, designed to run off a garden tractor battery so low current, and pretty cheap at around 10 bucks.
Having said that... any starter solenoid should work... and the best one is the one you've already got in your hands!
(a) draw a fair bit of current all on its own
(b) overheat... some starter solenoids are designed for duty cycles of 30 seconds or less... on an AAZ the glow plugs run for several minutes of afterglow
For both those reasons and the most important reason of all (c) Vince is a cheap you-know-what I picked a commonly-available garden tractor starter solenoid stocked by NAPA.... rated for continuous duty, designed to run off a garden tractor battery so low current, and pretty cheap at around 10 bucks.
Having said that... any starter solenoid should work... and the best one is the one you've already got in your hands!
Vince
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
2001 silver TDI Jetta Malone Stage 1.5 , 2001 blue TDI Jetta SBIII 216s Malone Stage 3
1970 Bay Window bus
Gone but not forgotten: 1969/1971 Beetles, 1969/1974 Westies, 1979 Rabbit, 1986 TD Jetta, 1992 gas Jetta, 1994 TD Jetta
Here's a small collection of HOW-TOs
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
2001 silver TDI Jetta Malone Stage 1.5 , 2001 blue TDI Jetta SBIII 216s Malone Stage 3
1970 Bay Window bus
Gone but not forgotten: 1969/1971 Beetles, 1969/1974 Westies, 1979 Rabbit, 1986 TD Jetta, 1992 gas Jetta, 1994 TD Jetta
Here's a small collection of HOW-TOs
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- Turbo Charger
- Posts: 1148
- Joined: Sat Dec 16, 2006 3:05 pm
- Location: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
On a cold Maine day a V8 can be a bear for sure. But with the right pipes she sure sounds purdy once she starts!!coke wrote:the load going through it is probably much less than cranking an old V8 over.
Vince
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
2001 silver TDI Jetta Malone Stage 1.5 , 2001 blue TDI Jetta SBIII 216s Malone Stage 3
1970 Bay Window bus
Gone but not forgotten: 1969/1971 Beetles, 1969/1974 Westies, 1979 Rabbit, 1986 TD Jetta, 1992 gas Jetta, 1994 TD Jetta
Here's a small collection of HOW-TOs
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
2001 silver TDI Jetta Malone Stage 1.5 , 2001 blue TDI Jetta SBIII 216s Malone Stage 3
1970 Bay Window bus
Gone but not forgotten: 1969/1971 Beetles, 1969/1974 Westies, 1979 Rabbit, 1986 TD Jetta, 1992 gas Jetta, 1994 TD Jetta
Here's a small collection of HOW-TOs
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- Turbo Charger
- Posts: 1482
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- Location: Canada Southern Alberta
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I forgot to mention to fuse the wire before the solenoid. I have never had the issues that fatmobile had but then again I am running a separate circuits.
99 TDI Jetta (Z1 engine code)
94 Grand Caravan
89 Dodge Gold Stream B class
http://www.antiquedollhouseofpatterns.ca/
94 Grand Caravan
89 Dodge Gold Stream B class
http://www.antiquedollhouseofpatterns.ca/
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- Turbo Charger
- Posts: 1148
- Joined: Sat Dec 16, 2006 3:05 pm
- Location: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Yup... a wee bit overall... and it definitely has a smaller footprint since the big terminals are on the top rather than to the sides.
Can't find any pictures on my hard-drive... the HOW-TO on my site has a couple that might give you a better idea.
From the NAPA site:
http://catalog2.genpt.com/catviewer15/% ... ShowPics=1
You can get a feel for the size based on the spade-lug terminals.
Again... don't get me wrong... I got no religion on solenoids...NAPA wanted 45 bucks for a "Ford" version and 10 for the garden tractor version... made the decision easy!!
Of course I had just cleaned the garage that spring and thrown out the old Ford solenoid I used back in the day to bridge in the second battery in my old VW van for starting during the winter.
Can't find any pictures on my hard-drive... the HOW-TO on my site has a couple that might give you a better idea.
From the NAPA site:
http://catalog2.genpt.com/catviewer15/% ... ShowPics=1
You can get a feel for the size based on the spade-lug terminals.
Again... don't get me wrong... I got no religion on solenoids...NAPA wanted 45 bucks for a "Ford" version and 10 for the garden tractor version... made the decision easy!!
Of course I had just cleaned the garage that spring and thrown out the old Ford solenoid I used back in the day to bridge in the second battery in my old VW van for starting during the winter.
Vince
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
2001 silver TDI Jetta Malone Stage 1.5 , 2001 blue TDI Jetta SBIII 216s Malone Stage 3
1970 Bay Window bus
Gone but not forgotten: 1969/1971 Beetles, 1969/1974 Westies, 1979 Rabbit, 1986 TD Jetta, 1992 gas Jetta, 1994 TD Jetta
Here's a small collection of HOW-TOs
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
2001 silver TDI Jetta Malone Stage 1.5 , 2001 blue TDI Jetta SBIII 216s Malone Stage 3
1970 Bay Window bus
Gone but not forgotten: 1969/1971 Beetles, 1969/1974 Westies, 1979 Rabbit, 1986 TD Jetta, 1992 gas Jetta, 1994 TD Jetta
Here's a small collection of HOW-TOs
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- Turbo Charger
- Posts: 1482
- Joined: Tue Sep 28, 2004 8:43 pm
- Location: Canada Southern Alberta
- Contact:
I bought mine from Parts Plus. They said, "they had two different ones". One had a long duty cycle (continuous use) and could be use on golf carts with lots of batteries. I don't believe it was that much more.
99 TDI Jetta (Z1 engine code)
94 Grand Caravan
89 Dodge Gold Stream B class
http://www.antiquedollhouseofpatterns.ca/
94 Grand Caravan
89 Dodge Gold Stream B class
http://www.antiquedollhouseofpatterns.ca/
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- Turbo Charger
- Posts: 274
- Joined: Fri Mar 28, 2008 12:45 pm
- Location: Alaska
THAT'S AWESOME, I'VE ALWAYS WONDERED WHAT THAT WAS!!!!!!!!Fatmobile wrote:I have used the glow plug relay to control the ford starter relay.
Sometimes the ford starter solenoid allows so much current flow that the voltage will drop,
enough to shut off the glow plug relay,
then the voltage will rise again and the ford starter solenoid will be triggered again.
BztBztBzt
I've had this happen on both cars I've tried this with.
Doesn't happen every time, hasn't happened on my car in weeks.
But the ford starter solenoid is loud when it chatters on and off, a bit embarassing.
This could probably be solved by hunting down voltage drops in the wire supplying the glow plug relay. Might be a bad ignition switch.
Yeah it started happening, um.....the day I pimped my plugs with a big starter solenoid.
The difference with mine is it does it after the GP light is off and the "afterglow" is done then it chatters when trying to shut off.
What's the fix for it? Just a continuous duty one or a smaller/less heavy duty one? Thanks, I might be able to get rid of that embarassing clatter now
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- Global Moderator
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- Location: north central Iowa
I haven't found a cure.
It basically stopped doing it on it's own, with my Rabbit. At least it hasn't happened in a long time.
On the GTI Rabbit diesel; I have a manual glowplug button she can push that stops the chatter until the relay times out.
I am going to try another glow plug relay on hers,.. and maybe a better ignition switch.
I made sure the glow plug relay was grounded good but that didn't help.
It basically stopped doing it on it's own, with my Rabbit. At least it hasn't happened in a long time.
On the GTI Rabbit diesel; I have a manual glowplug button she can push that stops the chatter until the relay times out.
I am going to try another glow plug relay on hers,.. and maybe a better ignition switch.
I made sure the glow plug relay was grounded good but that didn't help.
'91 Golf gasser converted to a 12mm pump, M-TDI.
'84 1.6TD Rabbit with a VNT-15 turbo, still setup to run on vegetable oil.
'84 GTI with 1.7TD pistons and intercooled.
2003 TDI wagon
2000 TDI Jetta.
'84 1.6TD Rabbit with a VNT-15 turbo, still setup to run on vegetable oil.
'84 GTI with 1.7TD pistons and intercooled.
2003 TDI wagon
2000 TDI Jetta.
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- Turbo Charger
- Posts: 303
- Joined: Wed Nov 16, 2005 6:34 pm
- Location: Bloomington, IN
Fatmobile- you say the voltage drop that causes the BztBztBzt could likely be caused by a faulty ignition switch, eh?
I'm sure I have a bad ignition switch... it wasn't a dealer switch but a cheapo replacement that I bought four years ago. You have to jiggle the key or the wiring harness the right way to get it to start. I'd like to install a push button ignition switch (cheapest alternative)... But would this solution prevent any potential issues like what you're dealing with?
I'm sure I have a bad ignition switch... it wasn't a dealer switch but a cheapo replacement that I bought four years ago. You have to jiggle the key or the wiring harness the right way to get it to start. I'd like to install a push button ignition switch (cheapest alternative)... But would this solution prevent any potential issues like what you're dealing with?
- Mike Harpring
'85 VW Jetta NA Diesel/WVO
'85 VW Jetta NA Diesel/WVO
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- Global Moderator
- Posts: 7574
- Joined: Wed Oct 30, 2002 10:28 pm
- Location: north central Iowa
There must be a voltage drop somewhere.
I think the ignition switch provides the 12V signal that turns the relay on so the drop could be as it goes through the switch.
I know the switch in the GTI diesel is weird. Sometimes the buzzer doesn't shut off when the key is removed.
She also has a manual switch, so when it starts oscilating she pushes that; the noise stops and the glow plugs get solid power.
I think the ignition switch provides the 12V signal that turns the relay on so the drop could be as it goes through the switch.
I know the switch in the GTI diesel is weird. Sometimes the buzzer doesn't shut off when the key is removed.
She also has a manual switch, so when it starts oscilating she pushes that; the noise stops and the glow plugs get solid power.
'91 Golf gasser converted to a 12mm pump, M-TDI.
'84 1.6TD Rabbit with a VNT-15 turbo, still setup to run on vegetable oil.
'84 GTI with 1.7TD pistons and intercooled.
2003 TDI wagon
2000 TDI Jetta.
'84 1.6TD Rabbit with a VNT-15 turbo, still setup to run on vegetable oil.
'84 GTI with 1.7TD pistons and intercooled.
2003 TDI wagon
2000 TDI Jetta.
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- Turbo Charger
- Posts: 274
- Joined: Fri Mar 28, 2008 12:45 pm
- Location: Alaska
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- Turbo Charger
- Posts: 1285
- Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2009 1:01 pm
- Location: Michigami, USA
Many thanks for the tips on GP rewiring.
I just discovered all four of my caddy's GPs were toast.
I suspect it happened when the typical rabbit water-leak killed my relay under the dash... I had an event last summer when the battery died and the car would not start. I jumped the battery and the truck started, but the glow indicator stayed on. I pulled the relay and replaced with a spare, I also installed a voltage indicator LED to the GP bussbar; but the damage to the GPs may have already been done.
A postmortem revealed the original relay full of water. I rekon the GPs were energized the entire time when the truck was last operated and even after shutdown; killing the battery and the GPs.
So, now I am replacing all the GPs using the individual fuseblock method (AWG 12 to each) and keeping the single LED to verify voltage at the block.
The individual LEDs for each GP may come later... Maybe two-color LEDs that indicate an energized state and an open state. Still pondering that one.
I just discovered all four of my caddy's GPs were toast.
I suspect it happened when the typical rabbit water-leak killed my relay under the dash... I had an event last summer when the battery died and the car would not start. I jumped the battery and the truck started, but the glow indicator stayed on. I pulled the relay and replaced with a spare, I also installed a voltage indicator LED to the GP bussbar; but the damage to the GPs may have already been done.
A postmortem revealed the original relay full of water. I rekon the GPs were energized the entire time when the truck was last operated and even after shutdown; killing the battery and the GPs.
So, now I am replacing all the GPs using the individual fuseblock method (AWG 12 to each) and keeping the single LED to verify voltage at the block.
The individual LEDs for each GP may come later... Maybe two-color LEDs that indicate an energized state and an open state. Still pondering that one.
Have a nice day.
'91 Jetta ECOdiesel TD - clean & complete (less motor/tranny) for sale
'82 Westy Vanagon 1.9 N/A - 23.5mpg
'86 Jetta TD - 45-50mpg
'81 Dasher Wagon 1.6 N/A - 52mpg
'84 Wasserboxer - DOA, parts donor
'94 Passat wagon VR6
'03 Jetta TDI wagon 230K, 52.3mpg
'89 Jetta N/A - 51mpg
'82 Caddy 1.6 N/A - Sold
'91 Jetta ECOdiesel TD - clean & complete (less motor/tranny) for sale
'82 Westy Vanagon 1.9 N/A - 23.5mpg
'86 Jetta TD - 45-50mpg
'81 Dasher Wagon 1.6 N/A - 52mpg
'84 Wasserboxer - DOA, parts donor
'94 Passat wagon VR6
'03 Jetta TDI wagon 230K, 52.3mpg
'89 Jetta N/A - 51mpg
'82 Caddy 1.6 N/A - Sold
-
- Turbo Charger
- Posts: 303
- Joined: Wed Nov 16, 2005 6:34 pm
- Location: Bloomington, IN
You're talking about fusing the wire that comes from the glow plug harness to the solenoid, right?I forgot to mention to fuse the wire before the solenoid. I have never had the issues that fatmobile had but then again I am running a separate circuits.
I assumed this would already be low current since there's not much of a draw.
- Mike Harpring
'85 VW Jetta NA Diesel/WVO
'85 VW Jetta NA Diesel/WVO