Re: its a 1985 300 SD. The temp went down to about 45 overnight, and in the morning it took a long time to start... when in warm weather it starts instantly. Just last year I think I replaced 4 of the five glo-plugs myself, and paid a mechanic to replace the one in the rear. . So they shouldn't be burned out already!(On this car, the glo-plugs are wired in parallel, BTW) I put a volt meter on each one....they all have 12 volts power. My DC amp-clamp is too big to get onto each glo-plug wire, but I did get it around the bundle just ahead of the first glo-plug, so I was measuring the total current. It read only .2, or 200 ma. So the question is, how much current should a glow-plug draw? Should I be able to feel heat on the tops of the glo-pugs after a few cycles? The relay appears OK, they stay on for around 1 minute. I guess tomorrow I will have to read resistance to ground at each terminal, to confirm if open/bad. Come to think of it, from the resistance, I should get an idea of about how much current each should draw. If the glo-plugs are all working, does this mean the compression of the engine is way down? It is not burning very much oil. Smoke billows out of tail pipe only for the first few seconds after starting, then there is very little smoke, and it does'nt appear bluish. Thanks all.
- posted
18 years ago