1Z Transplant Vanagon Glow Plug Power Find

Mizamook

Member
Joined
Apr 22, 2017
Location
Haines, Alaska
TDI
1Z (1996 Passat) in 87 Vanagon
Hello,

The snow around the Vanagon Westy is melted enough for me to get to things, adn this season I have two important projects: Replace steering pump and rack, and likely more frustrating: Figure out why glow plugs are not working!

I really suspect they have not worked since I've had this vehicle (2013) which is an '87 Westy Vanagon with a 96 Passat TDI crammed into it (gets about 30mpg!)

Greaseworks in OR did the transplant for a guy in AZ. Then I drove it from AZ to AK. I stopped driving it every winter because of the hard starting and the fact that the power curve made the rear wheels not stick well to ice/snow (my '66 splitty is the winter car!)

There are some really funky non-terminated loose wires and a mess around the relays area in the engine compartment. Scary.

Replaced the glow plugs and harness two years ago - no change. I didn't stop to actually check to see if they were getting juice!

While I'm shopping on IDParts for the power steering pump, I've also got relay 109 in my cart, and I'd like to get another glow plug relay .. BUT ... Relay 180? (glow plug relay) I am confused about, as the relays I show here (in pics) do not seem to be it, (not enough contacts?) as well as the indication on IDParts that this DOES, as well as DOES NOT fit my car ... https://www.idparts.com/glow-plug-relay-a3b4early-a4-p-1122.html

When I was attempting to troubleshoot last year, I was not getting power to the big block where the strip fuse is. The strip fuse seems intact in the coolant relay block, but it seems like the main glow plug leads go to that as well?

Last year I found a link to a larger ($200+) relay, but I cannot find it now ... I would like to determine what I need!

The glow plug light does come on the dash, but no juice to any of it.

Since this is a transplant, it's really easy to get lost. I have not found any other leads or relays (the ECU is under the seat in the camper, and there is a trunk of wires heading up front to plug into the ScanGauge2)

I do have VCDS, but not getting help from that ... seems like the glow plugs think they are working!

Can I politely ask for some tips on how to check signal (continuity/power) flow from the beginning?

Thanks!




 

Alchemist

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 3, 2007
Location
Lethbridge, Alberta
TDI
'04 ALH Golf
I don't see any pictures.

I think 96 was a transition year where the early production had a 103 glow plug relay and later ones got the 180 relay.

Since you don't have a code for glow plug relay, I think the power supply to the relay may be missing. The relay itself could be there making the ECU happy, but not doing anything else.
 

Mizamook

Member
Joined
Apr 22, 2017
Location
Haines, Alaska
TDI
1Z (1996 Passat) in 87 Vanagon
Thank you very much for mentioning this! I see a bunch of stuff I can research now. It's funny that variations of "1996 Passat TDI glow plug relay"never resulted in such!

None of the three relays in my box are looking like that,
but I'll keep looking .. and update here if I figure it out.

I don't see any pictures.

I think 96 was a transition year where the early production had a 103 glow plug relay and later ones got the 180 relay.

Since you don't have a code for glow plug relay, I think the power supply to the relay may be missing. The relay itself could be there making the ECU happy, but not doing anything else.
 

Mizamook

Member
Joined
Apr 22, 2017
Location
Haines, Alaska
TDI
1Z (1996 Passat) in 87 Vanagon
Success! Apparently the glow plugs in this transplant by Greaseworks NEVER worked. They totally botched/kludged the relay installation, andthe poorly crimped non-soldered bent connector that did not fit in the relay socket has never made contact with pin 80.

Situation rectified. Seems to work fine now. Just bad wiring. Beware transplants and careless wiring. If it looks bad, it is.
 
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