electrical problem

[lake0026]

hello, i have a small problem. my glow controller failed and burnt out my glow plugs recently, so i got new plugs and a new glow controller. today the glow controller blew in half. i heard the pop and smelt the smoke. does any one have any idea what could have caused this? the truck runs great, well it did till this failure. only 123000 miles.
thanks
jesse

[john8662]

Strange...

Could you give us a little more information on the vehicle?

The best way to do this is to update your profile and include this information in your signature of your posts.

The common is the year of the vehicle, what it is, etc.

From the sound of things, you might have the 82-84 glow controller that is a cylinder shaped controller.

I can't think of anything that would cause the controller to split. The controller can come apart where the connector attaches to the main body of the controller. If there were pressure inside the controller base (coolant?) that could cause it to pop the cork.

[lake0026]

my truck is an 82 wit the round lw controller.it blew the top of the controler out of tyhe bottom of the controller. it is strange. i jumped the relay on the fender to provide power to the truck and it will start and run. but i installed the old glow relay, the one that like to glow when driving doen the road, but nothing happened. that is when i bypassed it all together. i have pictures of what it looks like but dont know how to get them on the web. email me if you would like to see them. lake0026@hotmail.com

[john8662]

Here are the images that were sent to me via email, anyone else got some insight as to what happened?

http://img57.imageshack.us/img57/9223/dscf00032su.jpg

http://img58.imageshack.us/img58/6970/dscf00042rk.jpg

Looks about like what I was describing. The top part that has the connector built into it has popped out of the controller body.

The contacts and switches have burned off the connector part.

Perhaps the controller got contaminated with engine coolant via a crack in the main body, which is in direct contact with coolant.

Is the relay still in the circuit as it's supposed to be by factory wiring? Does look like it's been under load.

[lake0026]

the relay is atill wired up as the fastory intended. it looks fine, no bur marks or discoloring. i might just buy a new one to be safe. i will look really close to see if there is a crack in the controller, but the truck was cold, had been sitting for 5 hours in 15 degeree weather. it is cold up here in MN.

[BobND]

I would convert to the '84 and up controller, and mount it on the LH fender.

I have not had good luck with the current replacements for the old-style, screw-in controller.

While you're at it, do the "added glow time" mod. (Assuming you have 60G-s, or other "dual-element" glow plugs.)

An added bonus, the new controller is less $$, but you'll have to get a matching connector. (Cruise control connector from a scrapped vehicle, or a GM replacement harbess.)