Talk:Glow plug

Glowplug
It seems all prechambered engines have glowplugs and (almost?) none direct injected diesel engines.This article could use some clarification.Wdl24.146.23.84 (talk) 20:14, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

My diesel needed one plug in 180k miles.Old d. used a little more.Wdl24.146.23.84 (talk) 01:45, 30 October 2008 (UTC)

What seems to justify the claim that large diesels don't require glowplugs? A good portion of the construction equipment I see is still equipped with them. The entire article seems to be intoned as if they're out of date.. it's pretty hard to get a diesel to start when it's 20F out without block heating, charge air heat, or glowplugs. If it wasn't for ether, it's near impossible. 184.153.196.39 (talk) 02:05, 21 January 2011 (UTC)
 * Are you sure large diesels require glowplugs? (by large diesel, I mean a ship's engine, like on a supertanker) 65.94.47.63 (talk) 14:28, 26 June 2011 (UTC)

This article should mention alternatives to glow plugs such as grid heaters. It seems like grid heaters are used on many larger diesel engines. (Entropy7 (talk) 18:57, 12 December 2011 (UTC))

Direct injection engines
I don't know about the USA but, in the UK, direct injection engines are not fitted with glowplugs. As a result, they can be very difficult to start. Here is an example. Biscuittin (talk) 10:08, 6 July 2012 (UTC)


 * Mine is. 1.9L Volkswagen TDi. Mr Larrington (talk) 15:52, 25 January 2013 (UTC

photo edit please
Anyone with more ability than myself? Please edit photo and add arrow pointing to the plug. ThanksPbmaise (talk) 08:51, 9 October 2013 (UTC)

Is it still necessary to make the cold engine of a truck run idle for a couple of minutes before driving it?
Thy--SvenAERTS (talk) 10:48, 28 April 2014 (UTC)
 * Depends on how cold the engine was and how hard you're going to drive it. It never hurts to allow the engine and its oil to come to operating temperature gently, before working it hard. OTOH, it's generally held with modern oils that this is best done under light load, rather than slowly under only an idling load.
 * None of this is relevant to glowplugs. They're about starting, not warming up once running. Andy Dingley (talk) 11:04, 28 April 2014 (UTC)

"Glowing"?
I was under the impression that glowplugs were only needed to start a diesel when it was cold outside, like winter conditions. This article makes it sound like you always need to use the glowplugs, unless the engine has just been running and is still hot. There is a difference between a "cold" engine and a "cold" engine, and I gather that there are many diesel engines built without glowplugs at all, yet which manage to start up regardless (albeit with some difficulty in cold weather"..45Colt 15:03, 19 July 2015 (UTC)
 * It would be an obvious falsehood to state "No diesel engine has ever been started without using its glowplugs". Similarly, for simple small engines without electrical systems it's common to start them without using the glowplugs which they haven't got anyway (and starting those when really cold can be fun, needing all sorts of external help). However find a modern small diesel car, with automatic glowplug control and start it. Whatever the weather, it will still use the glowplugs first.
 * The reason is the fundamental one between spark ignition petrol engines and compression ignition diesel engines: particularly with carburettors, petrol engines don't cold start well because their fuel systems don't vapourise fuel well when cold. In contrast, a typical diesel makes very little account of air temperature: the combustion chamber temperature reaches the ignition temperature regardless. The use of glowplugs in particular will make far more than the 20ºC difference that climate might. There's also a difference between indirect injection and direct injection: indirect injection is hard to start without glowplugs, but with it it's easier in cold temperatures than direct injection is.
 * When diesels are really hard to start, this is almost always because the crankcase oil is cold, viscous and making it hard for the starter to crank fast enough to reach a good compression and ignition temperature. Andy Dingley (talk) 17:18, 19 July 2015 (UTC)

Rename and create disambig page
Hello all. To make a clearer distinction between the two glow plug articles, do you think it would be helpful to rename this one to Glow plug (diesel engine) and then use Glowplug as a disambig page? Regards, MrsSnoozyTurtle 23:08, 10 February 2023 (UTC)


 * I've requested a revert at WP:RMT. The diesel glow plug is the primary topic. 162 etc. (talk) 06:26, 12 February 2024 (UTC)

History
Could some-one add some information on the invention and development of this device? Kdammers (talk) 15:39, 14 December 2023 (UTC)