Attn. Diesel Glow Plug Gurus - I need you to help me start my truck!

[colbystephens]

so i was trying to start my truck for the first time today since the rebuild and i finally got the wiring working enough to get my GP controller to work. (The PO) royally messed up the wiring). After all of that, i was only able to get the passenger side glow plugs to work - the drivers side didn't do a thing. traced all the connections, and i didn't find anything. anyone have any suggestions? I really want to start my truck - it's been down for a year. FWIW I tried turning the engine over with only the one side working hoping i could get enough of the engine going to heat up the otherside, and i didn't get any ignition of the fuel even on the passenger side.

 

[snoman87]

unplug all the glow plug wire and confirm you have continuity from each wire to the relay ... sounds like one side is not connected to the relay. There should be 2 orange wires running from the relay on the fender, one to each side. They then split off into 4 green wire somewhere around the firewall/valve cover area.

Suggestion, get ride of the 82'-83' glow plug system. I took my harness out and spliced in a 84+ controler and located it on the fender. I used part of the 83' harness and part of the 85's harness. Looks factory and works great. I also did away with the 85's troublesome temperature inhibitor switch while I was modifying the harness.

 

[colbystephens]

interesting, can you give me more info about the different years of glow systems and their trouble? i'm about to attempt to rewire the thing today, so we'll see how that goes.

 

[kennyw]

I'd just hook it up 100% manual... Get a nice spring loaded starter button and run that wire to the trigger side of the solenoid. Eliminate all the wiring for the controller that way.

But your problem may be a fuseable link. There are 2 fuseable links connecting the orange wire to the solenoid (at least on the wiring off my '84 parts truck I used in my old '79).

 

[snoman87]

manual is fine as long as nobody else drives your truck.

As far as I know 82-83 are the same 85+ are the same. They use a completely different glow plug contoler. The 85+ have an integrated controller and relay.

Check out my website for some pics http://www3.telus.net/gmc62td/engine_harness.htm

 

[colbystephens]

i got it - it was the fusible link in the orange wires.

 

[maynardogle]

So...does it run?

 

[colbystephens]

as of today - yes!!!