TC33D Glow plugs stuck on?

mathey

New member
My brother-in-law used my tractor the other weekend - said it wouldn't start so he had to jump it. I came the next weekend and replaced the battery, but it still had a tough time starting, but eventually I got it running - but the glow plug indicator stayed on. After lots of searching, I found this was a common problem, so I replaced it with a S81NL Lamp Timer relay from Ebay. Installed but no start - new battery was completely dead (0.0V). Put the it on the charger overnight - and bought a universal ignition switch as well. Put everything back together (lamptimer, ignition and charged battery) it still had a tough time starting so I jumped it - it started but the glow plug light stayed on (after talking to my brother-in-law, he ran it for a good while with the light on).

So the final component is the glow plug power relay #3? Or does it sound like the glow plug(s) are bad/damaged? Or what else should I be checking?

I traced the thick orange wire out of relay #3 to the top of the engine block - but is that where the glow plug is? Schematic shows 4 glow plugs? How do you access them to test - or do you test at the relay end?
 

Doc

Admin
Staff member
Gold Site Supporter
Sounds like you've diagnosed it perfectly. It's one or the other. i would not have even thought of the glow plug power relay but I suspect that would be a cheaper / easier fix than the glow plugs. But, could you jump it if that power replay were out? I'm guessing glow plugs got fried.
Sorry, I'm of no help on how to remove those.
 

mathey

New member
it was the glow plug power relay! $12 part - woot!

the glow plugs actually aren't very expensive either - but i'm glad i didn't need to replace them.
 

Doc

Admin
Staff member
Gold Site Supporter
Congrats on a cheap fix. Good diagnosing on your part. Did you find a way to test the relay, or take it to the shop ....or just buy a new one and replaced it to see if that fixed things.
Thanks for the follow up. Always good to know what the problem and fix was. :tiphat:
 

mathey

New member
It was still cheap enough to throw parts at it - the glow plug circuit is pretty short and simple. Tons of hits on Google, but most of them were about the timer relay being the culprit.

Yea, there's nothing worse than finding your exact problem somewhere online but never finding someone replying with what they did to fix it.

and just to note - that other site (which I swore I would never go back to - but I did - it had been 8 years since i was on there last!) - my post had over 100 views and just one reply telling me where he thought the relays were located - well DUH!
 

mathey

New member
UPDATE - the positive battery cable was also bad - it must have had enough resistance that it wouldn't start on it's own, but would with a jump. So even tho i didn't spend a whole lot of money throwing parts at it, makes you wonder if the battery cable was causing all the issues all along.

Oh well! it's working fine now!
 
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