Hydro-idi
Full Access Member
Bosch glowers work just fine for anyone thinking they don't work well with a stock controller setup. I have been running them in my truck and like their performance so far.
how good are the ZD9 glow plugs for manual button systems??
- Thread starter 7.3 man
- Start date
You trying to get me banned? 
My truck has ac delco plugs I believe the part number is 8g. I broke one and sourced them as for a GM (the horror) 350 diesel. They are running great off my 6.9 controller. I don't think I have read of anyone getting these stuck in their heads.
Note I live where we get a few hard freeze warning a year. *
My truck has ac delco plugs I believe the part number is 8g. I broke one and sourced them as for a GM (the horror) 350 diesel. They are running great off my 6.9 controller. I don't think I have read of anyone getting these stuck in their heads. Note I live where we get a few hard freeze warning a year. *
rhkcommander
Full Access Member
Any glow plug can swell or melt, some much more likely than others. Beru and bosch seem to be the best two, not many have tried the dual coil wellmans or dieselrx ones. Wellmans are made in the usa.
12v glowplugs take longer to heat up, ford uses these glowplugs to get the truck started sooner.
Bosch or Beru are good. Autolites and champions should be avoided due to higher failure rates. Like i said before, both are good options but beru are best with a controller and bosch are best with pushbutton. With the button you can choose when and how long to glow. The newest controller design is well over two and a half decades old. A properly setup one works great but Beru plugs and a new controller cost a lot more than a button, some wire, and bosch plugs.
Either plug will die if you hold it too long. Any plug will. Beru is able to take more beating from the controller and thats why they are recommended.
Bosch were hot in 5 seconds with actual 12V and i havent tested beru yet to compare but i did experience longer times needed to start.
Also depends on where the plugs are manufactured. The ?German? Ones are better than those of Mexico. They will be stamped where they are from and have a green or black plastic washer. Green iirc is germany and black mexico for beru at least, i think.
Get either set, try small and work your way up and see what your truck likes. Id try 6, then 8 if 6 wasnt enough and keep working up. Try to keep it at or uder 12 REAL seconds.
Ive made two wiring harnesses and used bosch without issue unless someone else plays with the buttons. That said, if you have anyone else - kids, family, friends - hide the button, or add a safety, or even better just have the button be disabled until ignition is on (really easy, most convenient). Or just run it and tell each person about it.
Not as much hassle as it sounds, just making it clear what you could expect.
Run either manual or controller, bosch or beru. If your on a budget try a button + bosch, cheap and simple as it gets and will do right by you if you do right by it. Cuts controller out of the equation and makes it easier to diagnose/fix the system. Bosch and a button could be 70$ or so, havent looked in a year.
If you prefer stock- automated control then fix it up with a 7.3 style controller and some berus. Look to spend 200$ minimally unless lucky, controllers depend on if its junkyard pull-quality or new-old stock, and so forth.
If i were you, i would go button + bosch because thats the cheapest, and for the savings you could have an extra set AND an extra relay And fill the truck up.
Or fix the controller setup up, hop in and have a turn-key setup.
(side note) you might want a puhbutton for your starter to keep the ignition actuator from busting when your out in a parking lot in the rain.
12v glowplugs take longer to heat up, ford uses these glowplugs to get the truck started sooner.
Bosch or Beru are good. Autolites and champions should be avoided due to higher failure rates. Like i said before, both are good options but beru are best with a controller and bosch are best with pushbutton. With the button you can choose when and how long to glow. The newest controller design is well over two and a half decades old. A properly setup one works great but Beru plugs and a new controller cost a lot more than a button, some wire, and bosch plugs.
Either plug will die if you hold it too long. Any plug will. Beru is able to take more beating from the controller and thats why they are recommended.
Bosch were hot in 5 seconds with actual 12V and i havent tested beru yet to compare but i did experience longer times needed to start.
Also depends on where the plugs are manufactured. The ?German? Ones are better than those of Mexico. They will be stamped where they are from and have a green or black plastic washer. Green iirc is germany and black mexico for beru at least, i think.
Get either set, try small and work your way up and see what your truck likes. Id try 6, then 8 if 6 wasnt enough and keep working up. Try to keep it at or uder 12 REAL seconds.
Ive made two wiring harnesses and used bosch without issue unless someone else plays with the buttons. That said, if you have anyone else - kids, family, friends - hide the button, or add a safety, or even better just have the button be disabled until ignition is on (really easy, most convenient). Or just run it and tell each person about it.
Not as much hassle as it sounds, just making it clear what you could expect.
Run either manual or controller, bosch or beru. If your on a budget try a button + bosch, cheap and simple as it gets and will do right by you if you do right by it. Cuts controller out of the equation and makes it easier to diagnose/fix the system. Bosch and a button could be 70$ or so, havent looked in a year.
If you prefer stock- automated control then fix it up with a 7.3 style controller and some berus. Look to spend 200$ minimally unless lucky, controllers depend on if its junkyard pull-quality or new-old stock, and so forth.
If i were you, i would go button + bosch because thats the cheapest, and for the savings you could have an extra set AND an extra relay And fill the truck up.
Or fix the controller setup up, hop in and have a turn-key setup.
(side note) you might want a puhbutton for your starter to keep the ignition actuator from busting when your out in a parking lot in the rain.
7.3 man
7.3 idi man
I FOGOT TO MENTION I wired it up like stock but put a button in, just removed the white wire for the timer and patched in the blue wire for the WTS light wire with another one and hooked it and a wire goin to the button on the timer wire post, STILL HAS THE RESISTOR, and a ground wire on the 2nd terminal on the switch to the frame. All I really need is a good set of GPs and a relay, still works like stock, the reason I did that is to stop the timer from coming on when the truck is hot. So this is what I think, I feel like Bosh or Beru will work just forgot to mention this, but whats the advantage of beru over bosh?
rhkcommander
Full Access Member
THe controller is supposed to read from a sensor to see if its over 160 degrees or so. If it is the "timer" doesn't come on.All I really need is a good set of GPs and a relay, still works like stock, the reason I did that is to stop the timer from coming on when the truck is hot. So this is what I think, I feel like Bosh or Beru will work just forgot to mention this, but whats the advantage of beru over bosh?
Beru are better with the controller, the run a little colder meaning if the controller is on 10-15 seconds they will be fine compared to bosch at 15 which might last a season or two. The controllers are "calibrated" for beru. Either is good, but your better off with BERU if u use the controller. Glowplugs aren't rocket science
7.3 man
7.3 idi man
So the beru will work with my system?
chevytaHOE5674
Full Access Member
I've been running AC delco 60G's, they are a self regulating 12v plug. I've glowed them for 30+ seconds on occasion when its below zero and have no place to plug the truck in. Pulled a couple out the other day and they all looked like new.
LCAM-01XA
Full Access Member
Not if it's the "new" solid-state controller, which his '90 is. The older 6.9 controllers that screw into the block or head or whatever and read coolant, they are temp-sensitive, the newer ones tho have no coolant temp input whatsoever! I got pissed off at mine (solid-state) some time ago and wired in an ice-cube relay between the controller and the big glow plugs relay, when there was power to the high idle and cold advance the ice cube would enable the connection between controller and GPR and plugs would work normally, but if coolant temp was above 112F (or whatever the high-idle/cold-advance cutoff is) the ice cube would break the connection between controller and GPR and plugs would not glow regardless of what controller wanted.
Then one beautiful day the controller decided to hold the GPR on indefinitely - I killed power at 25 seconds, replaced 2 or 3 burned plugs, cut any and all wires connecting controller to GPR (or anything else for that matter), and started using my backup pushbutton switch as the primary means of triggering the GPR. Controller is still there, but only as a mounting location for the GPR and cause it has that neat plastic guard over the GPR.
Are those bullet connectors or spades? '88 and up trucks use the bullet style, don't recall what the '87s have...
chevytaHOE5674
Full Access Member
The 60G's are spade's and my truck had bullet connectors. But half hour with some new connectors and a soldering iron and the truck now has spade's.....
Black dawg
Registered User
the zd9 will work ok, but they are not a true self regulating plug. (or maybe they just dont do it very good). The 60g is self regulating, but I wont use them as I lost a good 6.2 motor to one loosing the tip. the best that I have found for a true self regulating 12v plug, is the bosch duratherm 80034.
In the stock application, with stock wiring and controller, nothing works as good as the zd9.
In the stock application, with stock wiring and controller, nothing works as good as the zd9.
I have beru gp in the 6.9l for about 3 winters now on a push button no problems so far. I do keep it well fed with good batteries, clean starter brushes, good connections, no air leaks and I don't switch them ON for more than 10 seconds.
yARIC008
Drives really slow
I've got beru's in my motor and I've had the push button system for about 10 years now. Starts up like a charm still, haven't replaced one glow plug yet. I switch it out to push button after the control was acting funny and was holding the plugs on way to long. I tried to fix it but couldn't figure out so just gave up on it.
As a side bonus it makes trying to steal the truck that much harder if you don't know how a diesel works.
As a side bonus it makes trying to steal the truck that much harder if you don't know how a diesel works.
zd9's are just as good for a manual button as they are for the automatic system. I believe they will actually last LONGER with a manual button. Why? Because YOU can control the amount of time they are on. That is the big difference between a auto controller and the manual button, YOU are in control.
I see it over and over on here, and I can't understand why it always comes up. There are people on here who want some "magic" time that they hold the glowplugs on for, and use that all the time. It's not necessary to hold them on all that time and risk burning up the plugs. What you do is listen to the engine and make note of the temperature outside, and you will know how long it takes to hold the glowplugs on after using your truck for a little while. It's simple. If it's colder, you hold them on longer. I would never go over 10 seconds no matter how cold it is though. If you try to crank it after holding them for 5 seconds and it won't fire, hold them on for 5 seconds again and it will usually fire, or if it's really cold and it won't fire the 2nd time, glow it for another 5 seconds and crank it again for a third time. Show me a controller that can do that. I would think the glowplugs would last a long long time only be glowed 5 seconds max at a time. That's how I do it, and only the coldest times in the winter do I have to crank it 3 times, glowing 5 seconds each.
I see it over and over on here, and I can't understand why it always comes up. There are people on here who want some "magic" time that they hold the glowplugs on for, and use that all the time. It's not necessary to hold them on all that time and risk burning up the plugs. What you do is listen to the engine and make note of the temperature outside, and you will know how long it takes to hold the glowplugs on after using your truck for a little while. It's simple. If it's colder, you hold them on longer. I would never go over 10 seconds no matter how cold it is though. If you try to crank it after holding them for 5 seconds and it won't fire, hold them on for 5 seconds again and it will usually fire, or if it's really cold and it won't fire the 2nd time, glow it for another 5 seconds and crank it again for a third time. Show me a controller that can do that. I would think the glowplugs would last a long long time only be glowed 5 seconds max at a time. That's how I do it, and only the coldest times in the winter do I have to crank it 3 times, glowing 5 seconds each.
Black dawg
Registered User
with the right operator glow plugs will last longer with manual control. The reason I suggest something other than zd9 for manual, is that they will burn out if they are held on too long.
IDIDieselJohn
0-60....eventually
I have my ZD1's on manual control in my van, for a year now, and they still look new! I hold 'em for the time the seat belt light is lite, witch is 8-10 seconds.
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