Manual glow plugs vs push button, picked the old route

Had a 7.3 Powerstroke in the shop last Tuesday, cold start was dragging bad. Customer wanted a push button glow plug kit, the $180 plug and play deal. I talked him into the manual momentary switch setup instead, ran new wiring to a relay. Took about 3 hours longer but no module to fail later. Anyone else trust the manual style over the fancy kits?

2 comments

2 Comments

hernandez.gavin5d agoTop Commenter

Hold on, three extra hours of wiring for something that might give up in ten years anyway? Those plug and play kits are dumb easy to swap out if they die, you just unclip and replace. I get the whole “less parts to fail” thing, but you basically traded a simple job for a custom setup that only you know how to trace.

perry.jesse5d ago

Agreeing with @hernandez.gavin here, but I’d push it even further. That custom wiring looks great on paper until you sell the truck or need a buddy to help you diagnose a short at 2am. Nobody else will know which relay does what or why you ran that ground wire through the firewall. Plug and play might be “boring” but it’s also something any shop can figure out in ten minutes. And honestly, most of those factory connectors are rated for way longer than ten years anyway. You’re basically adding headache for zero real gain unless you’re tracking the thing or running insane amp loads.