No glow plug light

Hi just rebuilt my 300tdi , got the following problem. Engine turns over,fires and dies. Glow plug light does not come on. I have checked fuses, replaced glow plug relay,no power to shut off solenoid. I can only get it to fire and die with a direct link from shut off solenoid to battery.
Anyone any idea what is wrong??

Steve Bond said:

Hi just rebuilt my 300tdi , got the following problem. Engine turns over,fires and dies. Glow plug light does not come on. I have checked fuses, replaced glow plug relay,no power to shut off solenoid. I can only get it to fire and die with a direct link from shut off solenoid to battery.
Anyone any idea what is wrong??

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Have you tried measuring for a voltage at the number 1 glowplug, just to confirm there is actually no power at the plugs rather than a glowplug light fault? Do you have an immobiliser fitted as that may be breaking the feed to the stop solenoid?

Thanks, at work today-[pants] it's a '95 softdash so it might have an immobiliser, I'll check that when I go home, since the last post I have managed to get it to run by using a direct link to the shut off solenoid, as there is no power to it when I try to start it normally. I'll check power to the glow plugs as well. Obviously every thing was fine before I swopped the engines---typical

I've got a 300tdi Discovery engine in my defender and that starts first turn of the key without using glow plugs so I'd be looking elsewhere for the problem

Thanks, moved on a bit now, ive found fuse F3 blown which amongst other things powers the glow plug relay,replaced fuse several times blew each time. Checked lead from this fuse to the relay got good connection. Put separate lead from battery to relay still didn't work.
Then heard a small beep from horn --- thinking alarm issues. Dropped the relay carrier in passenger footwell, loads of water dropped out!! Eventually I dried it out, reconnected the battery and the alarm went off, reset it with hand fob, tried to start, F3 didn't blow glow but light worked,got supply to glow plugs but didn't start?? I have 12v to fuel solenoid?? All is well when I use a separate supply, can't work out why the solenoid won't work. Will keep at it.

presume from the "95 softdash" we are talking RRC?

does it have an alarm spider, that needs "the" fix for its dry joints?

Hi Disco 1 BFG
It is aSoftdash I have read a post about the spyder box, so will look into it for the moment I am still trying to see why although I get 12v to the fuel solenoid it doesn't energise it only a direct link does??
Thanks

Ah! so, there is 12V to the solenoid, but apparently not enough current - which might suggest a dodgy joint somewhere behind it, but (obviously) in the same circuit... Like in the spider, if it has one. Would be worth doing a search on here for the precise details of how circuit is connected up....

It could also be that the solenoid is taking too much current because its knackered - whereas, your direct link might be unfused, straight to the battery, and taking far more than a "good" solenoid. Sure the specs are on here - I.E. a coil resistance, which you could test with a DMM.... in fact I think I might start here, as this (duff solenoid) does crop up occasionally..( probably also the simplest check )
if its ok, you could then try using the (car) circuit to light a bulb to see if this is the issue - assuming your multimeter has a (DC) current scale, you could even try measuring the current taken by the solenoid in the direct link route, and then see if you can simulate the same draw using a bulb of the right size... ( and if your MM doesn't have such a scale - good excuse to buy one that does)