This is where I installed the momentary switch to activate the glow plugs only when they are needed.


I prefabbed 14 Gage wire by soldering lugs on one end.


Removed the cover trim by prying with my pocket knife. There is another one on the right side of dash that has to be removed too,
also remove one screw on each side with a nut driver and just pull off the head light switch ****.


I drilled the hole and installed the switch to the dash.
(it may have been better to have put the trim on and then drill the hole thru trim and dash together for better alignment).


I secured the switch to the dash and the lugs to switch.


Route the wire thru the fire wall keeping it away from brake pedal and steering column.


Route the wire as shown.

Towards Glow Plug Relay.


Remove violet wire from relay and set aside.


Cut wire to needed length and solder lugs to white and black wires. Secure white wire lug to relay as shown.


Secure black wire lug to relay ground as shown.


Place shrink tube or tape violet wire to isolate, as it is no longer need for this mod.


Secure the dash with 2 screws.
Drill a hole in the trim cover, I had to add a grommet to the switch to con-seal the miss-aligned hole I drilled, replace the light switch.


The momentary switch is fairly easy to hold in the position shown for about 30 seconds, as it gets colder I may decide to change to Jose's (RÖENTGEEP) mod choice. The fallowing link is the original information I used to do this simple mod.
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...-question.html

 

Very interesting way to do it.

I don't necessarily like your switch location choice, but it looks like you did a really good job.

 

[/QUOTE]The momentary switch is fairly easy to hold in the position shown for about 30 seconds, as it gets colder I may decide to change to Jose's (RÖENTGEEP) mod choice. The fallowing link is the original information I used to do this simple mod.
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...-question.html[/QUOTE]


Well done, thanks to share this in this forum.

BTW, my friend Plowhand was who told me how to do the mod. I miss him in this forum. Does anybody knows where is he?

 

I have his number, i could give him ... wait. plow hand. oh, i'm thinking cowmilker.

 

Thank you any way.

 

You live in WA and you're putting glow plugs on a switch?! haha, just kidding. It was 27* here this morning...

Looks good though..

 

You could just as easily have put the ground wire to a ground in the cab, and run just one wire through the firewall.

Personally, I'd rather have my hands free while running the glow plugs; WTS time is the perfect time to buckle up. I actually catch myself doing the "key to RUN, buckle up" sequence in my Saturn, after driving one of the wife's trucks so much.

 

I do the same thing in my GMC Sierra.

 

Good job Rich, so I understand it, do you hold it over for the length of time you want the glowplugs to run? Probably a stupid question now that I think about it because it seems like you took the PCM out of the equation all together.

 

It looks like the glowplugs run while the switch is engaged and the glowplugs stop when the switch is disengaged.

 

Thanks for all the comments everyone. Yes the switch has to be held to the left side its springs back to off when released. (no worries about leaving it on) It worked quite well this morning about 9am here, temp was 27 I turned the key on and counted to 40 so about 40 seconds it fired right up. I'm a real fan of KISS (keep it simple stupid) so this may work well for me, time will tell.
I just feel that the glow plug system should last much longer being only used when needed, I have watched the amp draw and it has always bothered me to see how far the gauge swings and for how long the electrical system is heavily taxed. Oh ya, I let it idle for about 5minutes this morning shut it off and it restarted just fine with out GP's. Tried again a couple hours later and it needed the GP's.

 

I had a 81 Jetta with a manuel switch. Forgot once and left it on and burned up the glow plugs!

 

Glow Plugs screw you up on every gas vehicle you drive.

But stickshifts do that too.

Poor fire walls have taken a beating from my boot heel!

 

I was thinking that the other benefit of the switch is that in some emergency case you can use ether to start the engine and maybe no any possible damage, because the GPs are out of function. Am I correct??.

 

A regular latching toggle switch, in series with the PCM wire, would do the same thing, without requiring holding it. Turn it on, wait (buckle up), start the truck, turn it off. If you forget to turn it off, the PCM turns it off anyway.

Gotta wonder, too, if it's really cost-effective. The PCM leaves the glow plugs on to make for a hotter combustion during the first seconds/minutes of engine run. It'd be about impossible to measure, but I wonder if, without the GPs, it burns more fuel during those first moments, and esp. if you use a Stancor relay and Beru/Motorcraft plugs, how much their life is really shortened by the PCM-programmed run.