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Todd Markle's 'Diesel Glow Plug Upgrade'

Posted: Sun Nov 28, 2010 10:43 am
by rgausman
Diesel Glow Plug Upgrade
By Todd Markle


Here is another upgrade to make the diesel Cub Cadets start better in the cold weather. I have gathered all this information from reading several discussions on both the IH Registry forum and the IH Cub Cadet Forum. This consists of changing over to the newer style glow plugs, powering them through a relay, and eliminating (or bypassing) the glow indicator in the dash. The first things you need are the new glow plugs. They are available from Kubota under part # 15951-65513. They are made by NGK and their # is Y-103V. I got mine from NAPA under the NGK stock # which is 2031. Originally these engines used fixed voltage glow plugs. The glow plug heating coil (in the dash) was designed as a buffer against burning them up. These new glow plugs have their own built in voltage regulation so they can receive 12 volts right from the battery which makes them glow much quicker. I left the glow indicator in the dash and bypassed it by connecting both wires to one terminal. Some others have replaced it with an indicator light. The reason you don't want the indicator hooked up is because it draws power from the battery and turns it into wasted heat without helping to start the engine. The next item is to add a relay to power the glow plugs. I used a small lawn & garden starter relay from NAPA part # 7-01861-1. You could use any heavy duty starter relay like the one from an older Ford car or truck. The most convenient place to mount the relay is on the fan bracket. The original orange wire to the glow plugs can be used to activate the relay. It needs to be hooked to the small terminal on the relay. You need to run a heavier wire from the positive terminal on the battery to one of the large posts on the relay. 6 gauge was recommended for this wire but I used 8 gauge which is more than adequate. You will also need to add a wire (at least 10 gauge) from the other large post on the relay to the front glow plug. Since you no longer have the glow wire to tell when the plugs are hot, you will need to count how long you are running the glow plugs. You can still use the chart under the hood for how long to glow the plugs at various ambient temperatures. In the photo you can see the gray wires from the battery to the relay and from the relay to the front glow plug.

Re: Todd Markle's 'Diesel Glow Plug Upgrade'

Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2017 3:02 pm
by OhioChuck
I recently completed Todd's Glow Plug upgrade on my 1572 and boy what a difference. That along with the starter upgrade did the trick.
I mounted my relay under the fuel pump, using the same bolts since they were spaced perfectly for the relay.
Relay mounted using same bolts as fuel pump.<br />You can see the white wires i used to energize the relay
Relay mounted using same bolts as fuel pump.
You can see the white wires i used to energize the relay
Cub Relay 001s.jpg (85.2 KiB) Viewed 5042 times
I also ran a wire from the last glow plug (nearest to dash) to a small led light that fit perfectly in the original hole of the chrome peep hole where you used to see the resister wire glowing in the dash indicating glow plugs were getting power, The other wire from that LED went to ground.

White wire connected to last  GP inline feeds LED on dash to indicate GPs are getting power.
White wire connected to last GP inline feeds LED on dash to indicate GPs are getting power.
Cub Relay 003s.jpg (77.27 KiB) Viewed 5042 times
Led fit in the original hole perfectly.  It tells me the GPs are getting power and i just count off the seconds in my head.  Usually 10 to 15 seconds and she fires right up.
Led fit in the original hole perfectly. It tells me the GPs are getting power and i just count off the seconds in my head. Usually 10 to 15 seconds and she fires right up.
Cub Relay 004s.jpg (85.65 KiB) Viewed 5042 times
I want to thank Todd Markle for the how to steps and Bob G.for re-posting them.

Re: Todd Markle's 'Diesel Glow Plug Upgrade'

Posted: Thu Apr 20, 2017 8:45 pm
by dag1450
Nice! I like the led in the original indicator housing. I wonder how hard a timer hooked to that would be? Probably more trouble than it's worth.....lol