A mate of mine said that I should only use the heater plugs in the diesel when the engine is very cold. If I have used the car and the engine is warm, the heater plugs are not needed, so start the engine like you would start a petrol car. Now, I have no idea if this is right or not but since taking his advice my plugs have kaput and I now have to replace them. Is it a coincidence this has happened, should I use the glow plugs every time I start the car?
Thank you Eddie
You have no choice whether the car decides to use the glow plugs or not
Ahh, well I used to give it 4 or 5 secs till the dash light went out, now when the engine is warm I just turn it over without waiting for the light to go out.
It won't make any difference to how long the plugs last, it probably won't help the life of the starter/battery
The message from "eddie" contains these words:
In what way would you not use them? With all modern cars the glow-plugs are controlled automatically. They'll come on for a good long burst if the engine's cold, but briefly or not at all if it's warm or hot.
Don't worry about it and take no notice of your mate, he's a knowlessman.
It wont make the slightest difference to the life of the starter or the battery provided that the engine is starting within the first few turns, which it will do if it is warm.
Yes, no
Depends. hdi engines have glowplugs fitted but don't need them- hot or cold. My old Xantia (XUD engine) would start when hot but you had to churn it for just as long as waiting for the glowplug heater light to go out. I have previously mentioned that just because it's a very cold day, it's not a good idea to give the glowplugs two or three sessions before starting up. Can burn them out. DaveK.
If you're bored you can try the comparison but unless it's hot it'll start faster with a bit of glowplug.
The message from DuncanWood contains these words:
Mine fires as fast as I can let go of the key when hot anyway - so I can't see any advantage in waiting for the plugs. Which quite probably don't even come on when it's that hot.
In message , Guy King writes
But that's the Perkins Di lump which was a superb starter, even down to minus 20 deg and as you say doesn't need glow plugs in the summer.
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