KJLYPW.......have you turned the fuel up on the IP?

 

CB, the brand name of the seals is Delphi.

 

My IP is a rebuilt, I believe they turn them up to the top end of the "normal" range when they are calibrated, but no I have not turned it up. It only smokes when I smash the pedal into the floor, otherwise no smoke! PS I just ran my truck on a dyno, and have posted the results on another thread!!

 

OK, what am I doing wrong here? I tried to hook up the voltmeter a glow plug with one wire grounded to the steering colunm support and I got 1.8mv at idle and 2.1mv whenever driving. But when I turned off the ignition reading dropped to 0.7mv, turn it back on (without starting) the reading jumped back up to 1.8mv.

So I tried to hook everything directly up to the GP, but all I got was 0.2mv that settled down to 0.1mv as it warmed up. I did not try to drive it the second time around.

The truck has recently turbocharged, and I pushed up the fuel pressure if that matters at all.

 

I would try another ground. My guess is that if you disconnect the lead that's hooked to the glow plugs and ground it to the block you will get about a volt at the steering column when the key is on. Just a guess of course, probably the column isn't well grounded and something else is using it as a ground.

 

It's always best to hook the ground wire to the block/intake/head...............clean both connections to shinny metal........after you have started the engine and you turn it off...the glow plugs will continue giving a reading until they cool off...........you also may notice when you first turn the (hot)engine off, a spike in readings......this is normal...........
crossbones

 

For voltages I see 8-8.5 mv idle warm, and 28-29mv wide open as hot as she'll go with the pyro at 950 degree's. I have smoke until I get boost, then none. Jsut though I would gave a turbo'ed reading for you guys.

 

I connected the ground to one of the intake manifold bolts, and the results still seem weird, but I did a road test anyway.

At idle, the reading varies between 0.0 and 0.2mv, with the reading settling to 0.0mv once at operating temperature.

Driving in light traffic, it shows 0.0-0.3mv at 30-40mph.

On the freeway at 75mph and with 4-5psi of boost, again 0.2-0.3mv, with 0.4mv while climbing a 3% grade. Coasting down a 6% grade at 55mph was a steady 0.2mv.

The only real outliner was when I squeezed down the carpet while climbing a 10% grade and holding steady at 65-70mph. I was reading 9 psi of boost and 0.9mv.


My truck has the ATS 088 turbocharger, 3" strait through pipe, racor interceptor filter/seperator, type D injectors (few months old) and I have no idea how old the injector pump is, but the PO said it was overhauled (the bolts on it were marked with an orange paint).

 

David85, it looks like something is still not hooked up right. Anywhere you join two different metals, you will get a voltage that is proportional to the temperature with the polarity dependent on the metals. Since the glow plugs are at a significantly higher temp than the rest of the junctions, they should give the dominant reading. I think you're just getting everything else. Double check that you are really connected to the glow plugs...
BTW, what brand of GPs are you using? That could also make a difference, at least in theory...

 

The only other connection in the setup is the splice that was needed to lengthen the leads of the multimeter (one for each lead).

The glow plugs are wellman single filament, with two that are dead and another that I replaced with a beru I had laying around, the beru plug is the one I am taking the readings off of.

Maybe I'll try to reverse the wires and see what happens.

 

Before starting this test, did you run the Beru along with the Wellmans? If so, the Beru may be burned out..try checking on the ohm range when everything is cold. You should get less than an ohm.

 

David 85, does the older controller have a single terminal that powers all 8 plugs, that is were the positive lead should go. If you have mixed plugs, or even a dead one, may be shorting out all your readings.

Well after my less than stellar dyno run, I am re- thinking the timing thing, maybe a cold advance rattle is too advanced for a N/A engine, so, from being 1/2 scribe line to the advanced side of static, I've experimented and retarded it the width of the scribe line. Truck is still warm, so I wont know if I've eliminated the cold PSR till tomorrow, but the GP readings are interesting. Prior to adjustment my individual readings averaged 13.1 mv, with combined idle reading of 9.7mv

After retarding the timing the individual readings dropped to 12.1 mv average, with the range being 11.7 to 12.4. combined idle reading is now 8.6.

So I guess this indicates that the engine is running more efficently at the timing I have it now set at, and a test drive indicates plenty of power, will burn out at get go, and maybe even smokes a little less when I kick it into the floor!

Hum- sure wish there was a free dyno closer by!!

 

OK hang on here, I disconected the test plug and hooked up the test lead directly to the single glow plug. Should i have left everything hooked up and connected at the controller? Is a reading from a single plug good enough, or do I have to connect into all the glow plugs?

The beru plug works fine, I know because I notice a big difference in starting performance when cold in the morning. But I still hooked up a wellman plug and retested.

At idle the meter shows -0.2mv (-0.4mv cold), coasting it shows 0.0mv, cruising at 30-40mph on flat ground 3mv, cruising at 70mph 9mv, squeezing the carpet down as high as 1.9mv, so it would seem there is a difference between the two types of plugs. It also looks like my lowest reading is in minus?????

The only thing I can figure is that there is some other connection that is causing another thermocouple effect that is negating the glow plug signal.

I noticed the minus readings with the beru plugs as well, but in that case all the readings were much lower.

 

I've been following this thread with great interest and wishing I had the time to participate. However, it would appear that I may have had a misconception about what is involved.

Is the correct procedure to connect your VOM to the GP relay output terminal and measure the voltage of all the GPs in parallel? Or is the correct procedure to unplug the harness from one plug and measure it individually? This would require plugging and unplugging it a lot - pretty much every startup if you don't want to damage the other 7 plugs. That's what I don't have time for.
If all that is required is hooking the meter up to the GP relay output terminal, and watching it while driving around, then I can play too!

 

For hook up check out posts 4, 49, 54, 66, 110. First step is to verify glow plugs are all good, check individually after truck is running one at a time.

After that checking all at once while driving, timing changes etc can be done with one connection in parallel at the controller, and a good engine ground, run a set of jumper wires into the cab?

From what I've seen so far lots of varialbles due plug manufacture, turbo or not, fuel settings, timing. CB, I assume you are somehow working up a data base, see any trends or averages yet?