Just wondering what the approximate glow plug life might be . Slowly enough everything s getting replaced and just wondering ow many miles I might get out of a set of glow plugs. Pump and injectors being good for about 100K. . . glow plugs are good for what?
Automatic updated glow plug controller: At lease 5 years so far on my 86. Push button: Up to the force behind the button.
Some type of manual control will extend the life of your glow plugs significantly. They don't have to work for most starts. Wes probably doesn't have to use them at all for 6 months or so out of the year.
Its really more about the number of cycles more than miles. Some folks will get well over 150K if they do lots of highway driving. If you are doing short runs or stopping and starting a lot they can start to burn out after 50K.
I made mine a manual push button in 2003. Haven’t changed the glow plugs since 2003. Still all work best I can tell.
I have had a few sets last up to 10 years or more, with mostly manual control, pretty well daily driven. Sometimes only one cycle per day, sometimes several. However, I did post a few weeks ago after I have noticed 2 sets that have been replaced over the past 2 years, starting to fail already (with the other variables in engine tune and health, in check). The concern I had was if these were starting to slip in quality to, like everything else. Just put it out there for others to keep an eye on...IF that's in fact the case.
In my truck (starts hard, sometimes 3 cycles of the plugs/starter below 20 deg) they have lasted around 5-6 years. Trucks that start good I have seen go 10 years or more.....driven almost everyday. All 7.3 plugs and controller setups.
Starter speeds get slower as they age and we get used to engine just starting. The newer Denso type starters, mfr up to you, spin the engine really fast to start quickly. Don't know if this is your problem or not. I changed from the old Mitsubishi starter and was amazed at the fast start comparison.
It makes me laugh a little because over the years I have had many different starters on this pickup. Have access to many different styles of new starters and really didn't see a whole lot of difference between them on my truck. A couple months ago my nippondenso 2.5kw seemed a little slow so I put a new mitsu back on it....this is the fastest this truck has cranked the whole time I have owned it (since 02). Not sure what is different with this one??
