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Wiring glow plugs help, normally aspirated diesel


deep

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I've been trying to put together an ex Singapore Air Force 110 diesel for the last few months. The previous owner had replaced the bulkhead and I bought it knowing there would be some wiring to sort out. It has been tricky because most of the military wiring has been hacked out (to put it politely) wherever it was close to the bulkhead; the bulkhead is from a TD5 and that has created lots of fun on its own; and the wiring loom supplied with the vehicle was reasonably complete but I don't know what model 110 it originated from!

I have several wiring diagrams, including a LR service manual and a Haynes manual but I am confused about the wiring to the glow plugs. According to what I have, the glow plugs on the turbo model should work through a timer but the non-turbo appears to have a permanent live feed to the glow plugs when the ignition is on, which surely can't be right. Additionally, the ignition switch provided doesn't have a sprung "back" position to operate the glow plugs like my old 2 ¼ Series III diesel had. There is a relay which apparently feeds the glow plugs (heavy red/brown output wire which matches all the diagrams) but the feed just seems to come straight from the "ignition on" position at the key (red/white wires).

So now I am stumped. What am I supposed to connect the glow plugs/relay to? How am I supposed to operate it? I've had the engine running and it only needed a few seconds of glow to start so it surely can't just stay live!

The colour scheme on the loom doesn't neatly tie with any of my diagrams, though much of it is close. I'm also struggling to work out which is the feed to the starter solenoid - that one doesn't seem to match any wiring diagramme at all.

I would very much appreciate any help. It's late and it's been a very hot day in the shed, so maybe my brain is hurting a bit too much!

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Thats how my Series works, on the sprung bit, but not my friends 110....is this a military oddity then?

My Land Rover is definitely military (ex 24v) but I had assumed the loom came from something civilian (12v), which included three relays behind the fusebox. One of those relays would seem to feed the glow plugs and I'll check to see that it's not a timer in disguise. The "ignition" switch that came with the car possibly isn't the original but I'll check the positions on that. The wire colours on the chart supplied above seem to match my switch, from memory, but I can't check until after work (which is where I should be now!).

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Hmm..that's interesting... Conversion from TD to TDi was done by a previous owner but the loom has only recently been changed to TDi. It's always been get in, tun key and put seatbelt on while waiting for light to go out, turn key to start....had it had a conversion to a TDi system on a TD loom then?

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I finally achieved some clarity today! It turns out that the wiring loom supplied with the vehicle exactly matches the one for a four cylinder petrol model in the service manual. That explains why the wires going to the ignition switch didn't match any of the diagrams I had been looking at. I had worked out the outputs all wrong. The main confusion came from the wire from the starter relay to solenoid on the petrol model being the same colour (and maybe thickness?) as the wire which feeds the glow plugs on a diesel. Once I realised my mistake...

It appears, then, that I need to make my own circuit for the glow plugs, which should be simple enough. I could either try to find a diesel ignition switch or just find a sprung toggle or rocker switch and try to mount it fairly neatly. The frightening lack of funds points to the latter.

Meanwhile, if anyone is able to point me towards a clear photo of a normally aspirated diesel bulkhead (engine side) which shows the general layout of the loom along the bulkhead, that would also be very helpful as I don't even know if the main part should go left or right from where it goes through the bulkhead. I really am working blind here.

I have been quietly going nuts with this whole bulkhead/wiring fiasco but hoping like crazy everything else become more straightforward once I am past that. Yeah right! The fundamentals of the car are in such good condition I am sure it will be worth the strain.

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Hmm..that's interesting... Conversion from TD to TDi was done by a previous owner but the loom has only recently been changed to TDi. It's always been get in, tun key and put seatbelt on while waiting for light to go out, turn key to start....had it had a conversion to a TDi system on a TD loom then?

The TDI glow plug timer is a separate add-on loom that plugs into the older wiring without any modification. The 200TDI was designed as a simple straight bolt in replacement for the TD.

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IIRC the 200tdi glowplug sub loom is still available PRC6083 http://www.lrseries.com/shop/product/listing/17464/PRC6083-GLOW-PLUG-WIRING-

HARNESS.html

not sure if it would work with the older type glowplugs as fitted in your engine.

One option, thanks, but I'll steer away from a timer and just go manual. I like simplicity, to the extent I am very bothered the fuel shut-off is electric and not manual!

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  • 2 weeks later...

I ended up just wiring in a 60 amp starter button ("momentary on"), direct from live to the glow plugs. It works a treat. In fact, I drove the vehicle across the yard and back yesterday, just 'cos I could. There's incentive in that!

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