solid state controller

[Black dawg]

anything under 30* I get 12 seconds from the controller, but no more than that any colder.

Fully warmed up during the summer I get around 5 second glow.

with my old controller I got 14-15 cold and 2-3 hot.

During the summer I do have to replace a few, but I blame that on wmo use.

 

[LCAM-01XA]

Everyone loves these old trucks because they have no electronics to fail, well almost. To go completely electronics free(except the alternator regulator I suppose), just install a manual button for the glowplug controller, and YOU decide how long the glowplugs will stay on.

I got that, well it's an override for when I drop a few plugs and get a suprise in the morning, that's how I can start on 6 cylinders at 20F without the heater and without killing the starter. But I like the automatic stuff to work like it should.

I had regular glow plug failures a few years ago, similar to LCAM-01XA. I was too busy at the time to get scientific, and just replaced the controller -- no plug failures since.

LCAM, how long does the WTS stay on for a re-start on yours? What ambient temp? Black Dawg, what's your hot start glow time and ambient temp? Do you have to replace plugs each year?

She only eats 2 plugs a year, always around X-mas time. The first full set I put in cause I was questioning the plugs the truck came with when I bought it (Wellmann plugs), the second set went in only cause one of the guys on here gave me a great price on it - I saved the good lugs I pulled at that time, two of them is what I just put back in as a replacement for my freshly-dead plugs.

On the hot restart glow time, zero seconds - I have the controller tied into the cold-start circuit so when the cold advance powers off so does the controller - I really only need the plugs when staring on a cold engine, cause even when kinda-warm she fires immediately, so no point in having the plugs work when they are not needed at all.

Actually I think the controller mods is also what confused me this time - normally when you WTS light flashes a few times at the end of the glow cycle it's a sign that you may be losing a plug or two, but with my light wired into the relay itself it also flashes during the afterglow cycle, so it's entirely possible that what I thought was afterglow flashes was in fact an indicator of the plugs failing...

Black Dawg, you're doing very good, as there is absolutely no freakin way my truck would start easy after only 12 seconds of glow time at temperatures below freezing.

 

[Black dawg]

I got that, well it's an override for when I drop a few plugs and get a suprise in the morning, that's how I can start on 6 cylinders at 20F without the heater and without killing the starter. But I like the automatic stuff to work like it should.



She only eats 2 plugs a year, always around X-mas time. The first full set I put in cause I was questioning the plugs the truck came with when I bought it (Wellmann plugs), the second set went in only cause one of the guys on here gave me a great price on it - I saved the good lugs I pulled at that time, two of them is what I just put back in as a replacement for my freshly-dead plugs.

On the hot restart glow time, zero seconds - I have the controller tied into the cold-start circuit so when the cold advance powers off so does the controller - I really only need the plugs when staring on a cold engine, cause even when kinda-warm she fires immediately, so no point in having the plugs work when they are not needed at all.

Actually I think the controller mods is also what confused me this time - normally when you WTS light flashes a few times at the end of the glow cycle it's a sign that you may be losing a plug or two, but with my light wired into the relay itself it also flashes during the afterglow cycle, so it's entirely possible that what I thought was afterglow flashes was in fact an indicator of the plugs failing...

Black Dawg, you're doing very good, as there is absolutely no freakin way my truck would start easy after only 12 seconds of glow time at temperatures below freezing.

my truck doesnt start real good at even 15 seconds, tommorow it gets 20. 25?

 

[LCAM-01XA]

Well I just fired mine up, at least the plugs - 30 seconds is when I shut them off at, cause controller just kept on going! Will see tomorrow how many survived it...

On a side note, is there a timer one can buy and wire up with the plugs, so when I use the manual switch can just look at numbers changing before my eyes instead of counting 1-mississippi-2-mississippi?

 

[MR.T]

...On the hot restart glow time, zero seconds - I have the controller tied into the cold-start circuit so when the cold advance powers off so does the controller - I really only need the plugs when staring on a cold engine, cause even when kinda-warm she fires immediately, so no point in having the plugs work when they are not needed at all.

Actually I think the controller mods is also what confused me this time - normally when you WTS light flashes a few times at the end of the glow cycle it's a sign that you may be losing a plug or two, but with my light wired into the relay itself it also flashes during the afterglow cycle, so it's entirely possible that what I thought was afterglow flashes was in fact an indicator of the plugs failing...

Your sure right about not needing the glow with a warm engine, it seemed a waste to me too. Nice idea using the cold advance to inhibit the glow. For me, that would probably cut glow use by half.

On the WTS time: The glow on mine is stock OEM, and I've observed that the WTS light can go out before the relay de-energizes -- So the relay on-time can be longer then the stock WTS light is on. I only saw 1-2 seconds extra, but don't know if/how consistent that is.

 

[LCAM-01XA]

Well, the glowplugs gods took three sacrifices tonight:

1) #1 glowplug, no hole burnt through it tho, just dead
2) #3 bullet connector on the harness side, the darn thing decided to fold in half on me and snap as I was pushing it back onto the plug after ohming it
3) my left index finger, that I promptly drilled into with a 1/16" bit while trying to cross-drill a new bullet connector so I can reuse the factory spring clip that lives around its split end to keep it from loosening on the plug as it heats up

And tomorrow I have the feeling I will just ditch the controller, as there is absolutely no effin reason for it to be acting up like that all of sudden and raining on my pre-holidays parade!

 

[dmaxjoe]

I unhooked the white wire and installed a push button for now. I will do some checking when I have more time to see what is going on. I am thinking voltage problem. I pushed the button for 18 seconds and it took 3 glows to start today at 20*. It started first try the last 2 days with the controler holding for 25+ seconds. Another thought was swapping controlers with the 91 to see if it makes a difference. I started the 91 and the light went off at 18 seconds. It started first try.

 

[LCAM-01XA]

If all your plugs are good then at 20F with 18-second glow she should start the first time. Under these conditions mine will start even on 6 plugs, so i'd say you definitely have a voltage issue - as Gary suggested, check the black connector by the A/C drier canister for corrosion and signs of meltdown. I actually pulled the glowplug wires off that connector and spliced them permanently to ensure good connection and proper power delivery to the plugs.

 

[LCAM-01XA]

Update on my mess - pulled all the plugs today, and found another dead plug, had a pretty good size crack in the stem. Also there was one with a small crack in the tip, but it ohmed out good (0.3-0.4 ohms), I still replaced it for a good measure. Also decided to inspect the harness connectors a bit better, #7 was heavily corroded so it got cutoff and replaced (again I transferred the spring clip to the new connector, no finger tips were drilled into this time, lol). Other connectors looked good for the most part, but I gave them some heat-shrink anyways.

Then proceeded to disconnect the controller, figured all I gotta do is kill power to it permanently, so I disconnected its red wire - got in the cab, flipped the switch to run, and what do you know, WTS light came on!!! ***, controller is powered down, why is the light on (in my truck light on means GPR is engaged). Kill ignition, go back under hood, and disconnect the white wire between the GPR and the controller - that's gotta stop the thing for sure! Go in cab, ignition on, and I was correct WTS light stayed off till I used the manual switch - 10 second glow cause it's 30F outside and the engine ran for like 5 minutes several hours ago, she fired right up!

So, in case anyone wants to bypass their factory solid-state controller, make sure you disconnect the white wire, red one won't matter much at this point, but the white one MUST be disconnected else the stupid thing may ground the GPR on you full time and there go your plugs.

 

[franklin2]

Yep, that's all you have to do is disconnect the white wire, and add your grounding pushbutton where the white wire used to connect. The "computer" in the controller grounds the the glowplug solenoid via the white wire to activate it. Enjoy your new manual system.

 

[LCAM-01XA]

Oh, I know how the thing works, after all I did tie it into the cold-start circuit so the plugs stay off when the engine is hot. I simply didn't like the idea of having the controller powered up all the time when it's not actually doing anything useful, think of it as one more thing to potentially fail and catch on fire (I know it's not very likely, but still), so I figured I'll just kill power to it and be done with it - I most definitely did not expect the stupid thing to be designed in a manner that would ground the GPR permanently when power to the controller is removed.