Ok I have been on FTE for a while. Have a few diesel rigs like a mercedes wagon, my 59 f350 jr cummins conversion, just sold a turbo diesel scout, still have an '85 landcruiser bj60 3.4 diesel canadian rust bucket.... My question is about an '83 mitshubishi mighty max 2.3 turbo diesel 4x4 pickup I just bought from the daughter of the original owner, 165,000 miles. In last 30,000 has had new head and pump etc, etc. My question is about the complicated system of relays for the glow plugs. There are boxes that buzz, boxes that get hot, some new looking wires, like a 10 gauge red wire off the relay(s) to the 4 GPs. I would like to lose all this crap and use a ford starter relay to hot up these (recently installed) glow plugs. I don't know if there is a resistor in the vehicles' gp circuit that drops the voltage or if I can just hot up these 6v GPs with a shot off the truck's battery. Should I switch to a comparable sized GP that is 12 volt? Some mitshubishi guy warned me that the 6 v GPs would swell in the (aluminum) head and not come out. I have heard stories from ford guys about swelling glow plugs and this truck isn't worth the trouble so don't want to overheat these. Do I just hot up these 6v plugs with 12 volts and go short cycles like 4 seconds or should I switch to a 12v GP? At 63 years old I know my way around a wrench, but electrical like resistance, ohms, watts isn't my strong point. I want this truck for a DD as I am driving some longer distances for work these days. Thanks in advance and sorry for the long winded post.

 

you can wire 2 GPs in series and use 12 volts on it

 

Second the in series idea--will work very well.

To explain for those who don't know series connections: 12 volt + connects to one g.p. Then jumper a wire from the other terminal of that first glow plug to the second glow plug. Then a wire from the unused terminal on the second glow plug to ground. Each glow plug then gets half of the 12 volts. A classic series circuit where the voltage divides across the loads.

 

But the GPs only have one terminal, that is unless they are stacked on the same stud with an insulator in between ??? Gonna be traveling tomorrow if you dont hear back right away... Thanks for the replies...

 

Ok, so the glow plugs use the threads for ground connection. You cannot use them on 12 volts. You are taking a big risk to run them on 12 volts. They can easily overheat and melt ruining the heads.

 

I do not suggest using 6 volt glow plugs on 12 volts.

However you may want to do a little more research. That's a Mitsubishi 4D55 engine. Some years, they used 12 volt plugs, but only put the full voltage to them when it was REALLY cold.

I've seen that NGK Part Number Y115T1 will fit in the heads and is a 12 volt plug for use in another Mitsubishi and Nissan applications. (Remember, Nissan and Mitsubishi made engines for fork lifts, small tractors, and other industrial equipment. They also made Diesel engines for other cars that weren't sold in the US.)

You can also bypass the glow plug system entirely and put a grid heater in the intake like a Cummins has.