Just came home from a week-long trip, hopped in the CDI, and noticed the preglow indicator (yellow coil indicator) seemed to be staying on for a long time. After about 30 seconds I turned the key to start and it fired without problem. After about 1/4 mile the light went out. Subsequent restarts were uneventful.
This morning something similar - normal start up sequence (turn car on, wait about 5 seconds, light goes out - start engine), but the light came back on, and stayed on for the same 1/4 mile ride and then went out again.
I havn't come across this at all in the forums, or in the WIS. Any ideas?
Just came home from a week-long trip, hopped in the CDI, and noticed the preglow indicator (yellow coil indicator) seemed to be staying on for a long time. After about 30 seconds I turned the key to start and it fired without problem. After about 1/4 mile the light went out. Subsequent restarts were uneventful.
This morning something similar - normal start up sequence (turn car on, wait about 5 seconds, light goes out - start engine), but the light came back on, and stayed on for the same 1/4 mile ride and then went out again.
I havn't come across this at all in the forums, or in the WIS. Any ideas?
Could be a bad coolant temperature sensor causing the glow plug control to run the plugs for maximum pre-glow time periods.
This will be a faulty glow plug. I advise to replace all 6. Dont worry about cold start they are purely for emissions. The car doesn't even need glow plugs. It will still start even if they all failed.
This will be a faulty glow plug. I advise to replace all 6. Dont worry about cold start they are purely for emissions. The car doesn't even need glow plugs. It will still start even if they all failed.
Regards.
Ted.
Never replace all the glow plugs, unlike spark plugs with varying resistance, glow plugs either "work" or they "don't"
The new generation of ceramic glow plugs cost approx. $80.00 a piece...This isn't some part you just arbitrarilly throw away... If they do send me the old ones and I will reimburse you for shipping...
Yes glow plugs are primarilly for emissions. However below 40F they do come into play to help compensate for the low cetane in US spec fuel (40Cn vs 51+ in Europe). The low cetane number makes the fuel more resistant to autoignition thus the fuel needs a little prodding with 2200C of heat in the cylinder during a cold start.
Wow they sure rip you off over there, in England they £9.00 each. We always replace as a set as if one fails another will shortly follow. Ta for fuel info tho.
Wow they sure rip you off over there, in England they £9.00 each. We always replace as a set as if one fails another will shortly follow. Ta for fuel info tho.
TM
Is that for a W211 CDI? The UK price I found was £13.14 for the part number A0011594201. Still less than $80. Honestly I would have expected more.
Good to know, To date I have all the original glow plugs in my cars without one burning out (380,000 accumulated miles amongst the group). I am still of the opinion that you just replace the bad ones and leave the others in.
Of course pulling them and using a dab of nickel anti-sieze on the threads only, would be a good idea for ease of removal in the future.
I did not check the UK price if it was for an outdated part that has been replaced with a better one.
So far I have not kept the car long enough to have glow plug failure (last time it must have been my father's W111 or W115). But colleagues say the CDI glow plugs may get heavily stuck. The advice above from DB sounds fair. I've understood that they may collect some "dirt" and may not come out even if they start turning. I guess removing and replacing could help there too, don't know if any sort of "cleaning" is even possible.
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