electrical challenge AAZ

I have a 1982 vw rabbit that I dropped a 1.9td(i) year 1997.5 AAZ the mk1 rabbit was also a diesel. I have had the problem of when the power relay is plugged in there is constant power going to the glow plugs when I turn the key to the pre glow position and when I start the car it keeps going it does not stop so I have to pull the relay out once started. I feel there is a simple check maybe I hooked a wire to the wrong spot on the engine that tells it to turn off I'm not sure. I tried to hook all the wires back to the same areas of the engine so on. Any help will help an I am sure all you pro's know what I am doing wrong. Thank you all for any help.

I am using original mk1 wiring harness.

You brought the MK1 harness, including the glow plug relay, over to your 82 Rabbit? Recommend getting the full electrical diagram pages (Bentley) for the MK1. Look for where the glow plug relay got its power in the original: gotta trace & duplicate that in your swapped installation. I don't have the diagram myself, so cannot comment on the specific details.

mk1 is 82 rabbit just using the cars electrical. any one else? I have the Bentley but it does not say anything about constant power only why things won't power up.

what wire tells it to turn on an off the relay where does that one hook up wish I could post pics can't figure out that as well. lol no hope for me I guess.

The solenoid tells it to turn on and off, not the wire. I'm assuming you've replaced the solenoid with a new one? I think even on these ancient td(i)'s there's a fuse for the gp's too. Make sure that fuse is in working order. Also sometimes the gp's take a long long time to cycle off. They're not like a modern tdi. How long have you waited to let them turn off? Also (sorry to ask this, but just to make sure) how do you know they aren't turning off? Is it just the light that isn't turning off on the dash, or have you taken them out and watched them turn on and get red hot and not turn off? Finally; can you hear the gp relay "click" on when you turn the key to the warm up position?

From the gp's to the relay there's only one wire. I've owned an aaz, a ahu, a alh, and a afn and in all those the gp wire is red. Most of the time it had a stripe on it (white with all the newer ones). Then there is a wire that goes from the ignition to the gp relay. That one is red too, usually with a black stripe. And that's it for the gp wires.
If nothing else works loop an on/off switch into the cabin off of the gp wire. Have fun!

The relay has a timer internally which commands when to turn off. The rabbit uses slow glow plugs that take much longer to heat up. There is a updated version of glow plug relay referred to as fast glow plug which stays on for 7sec compared to 3 times as long with the slow relay. As per earlier post how long are you waiting for the light to turn off? Also fast and slow glow plugs should not be interchanged with slow and fast warm up relay. Damage can result and fuse link can fail.

This is from my Haynes manual for the 1998 through 2005 New Beetle, including TDI engines, page 5-11.

"The duration of the pre-heating period is governed by the Engine Control Module [ECM] which monitors the temperature of the engine via the coolant
temperature sensor and alters the pre-heating time to suit the conditions.

A dash mounted warning lamp warns the driver that pre-heating is taking place. The lamp extinguishes when sufficient pre-heating has taken place
to allow the engine to be started, but power will still be supplied to the glow plugs for a further period until the engine is started. If no attempt is made to start the engine, the power supply to the glow plugs is switched off to prevent battery drain and glow plug burnout.

After the engine has been started, the glow plugs continue to operate for a further period of time. This helps to improve fuel combustion while the engine
is warming up, resulting in quieter, smoother running and reduced exhaust emissions."

Sounds like the 1998-2005 TDI is designed to operate this way; yours is a 1997-1/2 and may have this system installed.