V-1902 Glow Plugs

[Anonymous Poster]

Hi all: A year ago bought a L555 New Holland skid steer that has a V-1902 engine in it with 1900hrs. showing on hour meter. It seems to Start very hard even with Coolant heater and Glow Plugs and Misses for a moment once Started. Is there a way to check Glow Plugs to see if they are working? they still have blue paint on them and look to be original. Does it take a Special tool to remove them? Anything that I need to know before starting this will be helpful. TIA Dave

 

[TomG]

Don't know the engine, but glow plug removal is nothing special on my Ford 1710. For checking them out, a manual will give several resistance measurements for the wiring harness and for individual plugs. However, if they're removed, they can be checked by just holding the base against the engine and turning on the pre-heat to see if they glow. Glow plugs don’t get weak. If they glow, they're good.

If the plugs are removed, the base should be cleaned thoroughly. Old plugs can develop poor grounds due corrosion around the base. If you're not going to remove them, spraying an electrical cleaner/anti-oxidant around the bases probably wouldn't hurt anything. In addition, I reduced the pre-heat time required on my Ford noticeable by cleaning the battery and ground cable contacts.

 

[JATO_RaT]

Dave, use a simple 12 volt light tester. Its the simplest and will give you a yes or no answer. Plug the one end of the tester to the positive terminal on the battery. Place the tip of the tester on each disconnected glow plug. You do not have to remove the glow plugs. An ohm meter can be used, but on some glow plugs a digital meter will not give you a reading you can use. Poor starting diesels that use glow plugs can often be traced to a bad glow plug. Just ask us Ford truck owners. Rat...