glow plug troubles?
 

Hello all i have having trouble with my glow driver. Is it possoble to burn out glow plugs? it seems that i plug my glow driver in and my gauge reads good on the amount of power i am putting out then the engine starts. ( was tuning an engine lots of starting and stopping. ) the second time my glow gauge on my field box won't come off of zero? So i changed the glow plug and started over. Once again the first attempt to start worked good but the second nothing what is going on? Also how do you tell how much compression your engine has?

Thanks

Flyboy76

RE: glow plug troubles?
 

It is possible to burn out a glow plug. If you're using a power panel, you might be getting it too hot. I'd recommend a single cell glow driver. Also, if this engine is brand new, it may be running too lean and burning out the plug. Make sure you have it set rich enough--very rich for the break in period. You also may have a bad power panel. Mine has gone bad, and I can no longer use the glow clip from it!

RE: glow plug troubles?
 

I think i know what i did. As the 12 volt battery slowly went dead i would have to turn up the flow heat more to get ignition. Then i charged the battery and never turned down the glow heat. I will turn the glow heat down and see what happens. Now i just need to figure out how to test compression on an engine.

thanks Flyboy76

RE: glow plug troubles?
 

in my power pannel instructions it says that turning the power up even a littlebit more than what u need to get the engine to start will shorten the glow plug life. I use a hot shot 2 for the glow plug any way. its safer I think and you cant screw up your plug with it as easily.

RE: glow plug troubles?
 

I WOULD RECOMEND A 1.5V CELL BATTERY thats wot ive got starts straight away every time:D

RE: glow plug troubles?
 

Most power panels have a "green band" on the meter and I have not seen any problems if you stay in that area.

RE: glow plug troubles?
 

Most ( I think really all do) power panels pulse a full 12 volts to the plug. Nominally, it puts the full 12 volt battery voltage on the plug for 1 millisecond then nothing for the next 9 milliseconds. When you turn that dial, you are increasing or decreasing that 1 millisecond time period. Now, if the source voltage changes, the equivalent average voltage applied to the plug also changes and can cause plug burnout as noted above.