This is on a 1.9 D pick up - Felicia?? or Cube?

I had a problem starting a year or 2 ago and was advised to disconnect the water thermostat so plugs always came on. this worked well, I reverted to connected thermostat after a while. recently, the glow plug light and I guess glowplugs, did not come on, she would not start; then after 10mins, try again, light came on and away as usual....this has happened twice recently. any ideas out there? Many thanks

When you say "disconnect the water thermostat", do you mean you disconnected the plug going to the temperature sensor? Or did you open up the cooling system and remove the thermostat?

Edited 2 May, 201214 yr by djaychela

i think he means the plug, common issue also on golfs... but normally what they do is just cut one wire and heaters will always come on. the problem is a bad signal that makes it think the engine is warm and there is no need to activate the heaters... that's why it takes long to start it up

This is on a 1.9 D pick up - Felicia?? or Cube?

I had a problem starting a year or 2 ago and was advised to disconnect the water thermostat so plugs always came on. this worked well, I reverted to connected thermostat after a while. recently, the glow plug light and I guess glowplugs, did not come on, she would not start; then after 10mins, try again, light came on and away as usual....this has happened twice recently. any ideas out there? Many thanks

Just a shot in the dark on this:

If the plugs are coming on regardless of need, surely this would shorten their life?

I think you just have to replace the temperature sensor, this is a common issue on Felicia Diesels.

The glow plugs are operated by the courtesy light switch too on the car version so sometimes you don't have to wait for the light before starting but if you switch off the ignition and back on then the light comes on. Maybe the plugs are just shot but the light's working fine.