Glow Plug Controller Melting

[BrianX128]

So I've had manual glow plugs since I bought this truck. None of them worked, relay was bad, 4 of them were stuck, all the fun. I replaced all the plugs with motorcraft ones, new controller and relay, new battery + cable to relay with a mega fuse, etc. Kept wait to start light and even added a bulb in the dash tied into an output wire so I could be sure they were being fed when I pressed the manual button. It's worked flawless for.. probably almost a decade now. I'm getting old. Anyways.

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Now the controller is catching on fire. That quick clicking at first and push - let go - push was just me failing to press the button hard enough trying to make sure I didn't knock the cell over in the engine bay lol.. Plugs still work. Relay seems happy. Just replace controller? I held the plugs a bit longer off video and it gets a lot smokier. I didn't realize I caught it the first time I recorded. It's for sure coming from below the relay.

Kinda don't get why we need the controller with a push button. Thankfully the truck starts fine without the plugs above like 50, I'm honestly not sure why I even pushed the button today.

 

[Kdo58]

You don't need a controller with push button, I use a warn winch solenoid, I figured if was tough enough for a winch it could handle some glow plugs.

 

[BrianX128]

Yeah, definitely these wires into the back of the controller that are melting. I wonder if I just cut them all if it would still work. I know I have mine wired where the push button is acting as a ground signal to something on the relay or controller from an article I had found on here. That being said, the key has to be on or the relay also doesn't function. I'm not sure if the controller is melting from those wires, or from the giant resistor thing where the wires go out to the glow plug harnesses either to be fair, since it's also hooked to the controller. It could be cooking the controller while they fire.

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[BrianX128]

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[franklin2]

You do not need the controller, but of course you do need the relay. The relay has the two large terminals for the big power going to the glowplugs, and the small terminals on the relay to control the relay.

All they did, and all you need to do, is put the key on hot red wire to one of the small terminals, it should already be on there. To make the relay work the other small terminal needs to be grounded. That is what you are doing with the manual switch. Even though the key is on and you have power to the small relay terminal at all times with the key on, the relay doesn't work till you ground the other small terminal.

 

[franklin2]

Here's a picture.

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glow plug controller by D Franklin, on Flickr

 

[BrianX128]

Isn't the relay itself [the body of it] grounded through the controller? Just wondering if I need to mount it on the firewall if I'd eliminate the controller entirely.

 

[franklin2]

The ground is for the controller brain. It's not for the glowplug relay.

 

[BrianX128]

Ended up just bolting the glow plug relay to where the controller was bolted. Feed wires to one big lug. Output to glow plugs and my own dash led on other big lug. Keyed power to small. Ground push button and wts from harness to other small lug. Works fine. Less wires always makes me happy.

 

[Cubey]

Ended up just bolting the glow plug relay to where the controller was bolted. Feed wires to one big lug. Output to glow plugs and my own dash led on other big lug. Keyed power to small. Ground push button and wts from harness to other small lug. Works fine. Less wires always makes me happy.

That's similar to 6.9 style wiring, except it uses + to activate the relay. I ran a fused wire from the battery to a momentary switch and then to the solenoid, when the newer solid state 6.9 controller that threads into the engine went bad. Made it so I could fire the plugs without turning the key, since I had an electric fuel pump. A bit less drain on the batteries while the plugs were firing.