need a new glow plug indicator thingy - BJ40

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

Joined
May 20, 2003
Threads
36
Messages
104
hey, doesnt anyone know if you can get one of these somewhere or make one? you know the little coil type thing that goes red when the glow plugs are hot?

mines snapped :(

cheers
 
did you try toyota?

I would scrap the coil idea and use an amber light. a couple dollars or so....

but if you really want a coil.. they can be bought from certain tractor/heavy equipment retailers. I have seem mining equipment with these. On scooptrams and underground bucket trucks. So if you start calling around you may have sucess.

Personally I would go with an amber light....IMOP open ignition source is not my favorite.
 
amber light hey? ive never heard of it. (this is my first diesel)
do i need a special amber light? where do i get one?

Thanks again brownbear :)
 
I am not sure of the crossover, but Toyota did have a coil type for the BJ42 about a year ago.
 
RyRy said:
amber light hey? ive never heard of it. (this is my first diesel)
do i need a special amber light? where do i get one?

Thanks again brownbear :)

Go to a radio shack or electronics store. electrical supply type place. Buy one that fits the whole in the dash were the coil was. if you are 24v that is a consideration.

to me(correct me guys if I am wrong) the purpose the having a coil for manual glowplugs, is that when you turn on the glow plugs the coil should heat up at the same rate as the glowplugs(same resistance). that way you know by looking at your super hot coil that you glowplugs should also be red and hot too.
When Toyota went superglow, you don't have control over the timing of the glowplugs....so no need for a visual reference as to how hot they are.

personally, I would just have a 2 buck light in there and count off 15 seconds or soo. unless you like to light a smoke on it.....thats what they do in the mines :rolleyes:

If you want a coil check with Toyota.
 
glow coil vs amber light

If im not mistaken the superglow has a resistance wire in series with the glowplugs that allows the correct voltage to be applied to the glowplugs.. in the old BJ42 system the glowing coil does the same thing.. if im not mistaken, it is an integral part of the glow system and replacing it with an amber might result in accelerated if not immediate failure of the glow plugs due to over voltage / excessive current draw... of course i have been wrong before, but in my 24 volt BJ70 the glow plugs are wired in paralell with a bussbar and are all rated waaaay lower than 24 volts.. (any one know how low?) this means that they all see the same voltage and its not 24 volts... again i could be mistaken, but i will go measure the working voltage and come come back .. fortunately i have never had to service the glow system on the BJ yet..
 
yeah, the bj40 system is pretty different from the bj42's. completely manual, hold key backwards for as long as you like, and a push button on the dash for when it runs like s***.

I can barely see that thing glow on mine unless it's dark out anyways, so I usually just end up counting.

I wouldn't particularly miss it if it were gone.

I was under the impression it was only a visual timer. allowed you to see when they were hot....

cheers,
ryan
 
well, i'm in the same boat now. mine snapped at the mountain after a day of powder. talk about a bad turn to a perfect day. i jumped my wires and got a bit of glow i think, so she started rough, but did start. tried to do the same thing again next day but no go. they are getting 20 volts and ohm out well so they should work. anyways i want to replace the glow screen too but the dealer wants too much and it's a week away. anyone have one for sale? part#28550.
how about alternate ideas? i'll try the truck shops like brownbear suggested.
chris
 
You might try a Kubota equipment dealer,we use to have them on some of the equipment with Kubota diesel motors in them at work,also a friend has one on a small Kubota tractor he has,only thing is they were all 12 volt.
Kubota part #15531-65951 or from Isuzu Part# 5-81410-040-0, these might be old numbers but they should cross up to thier new numbers
James...
 
Last edited:
for the time being i just joined the two wires that go to the glow plug screen together and it was starting fine...
until this morning :(

couldnt get it to start... checked the glow plugs, 3 had infinite resistance and one had 0.03 resistance... so i replaced 3. Still wont go :(
I have 12 volts at the bar...

any ideas what else i can check? im outa ideas :(
 
12volts at the bus bar....3 new plugs. no reason they are not glowing. edic not turning on?

change the other plug too. 0.03 is almost straight to ground. could be the others are not even heating up. Shouldn't there be almost an ohm per plug? to test the theory, disconnect the one old plug, heat up the other three and try to start.

it will start on 3 good plugs.

also verify the fuse is not blown, incase you do not have power now.
 
i was told it should be 0.00 ohms if the plugs are brand new...

if one was not working, would it stop the others from heating up?

if i have voltage at the bus bar, that would mean the fuse is ok wouldnt it?
ill check anyway

edic seems to be working *shrug*

thanks again brownbear, hopefully it'll sort itself out..
 
well it started tonight, a little rough but i guess its always done that sometimes...

i have no idea why its starting now and wouldnt before...

lots of strange things happen with this car, fingers crossed it keeps starting!
 
I have been having similar difficulties after my coil snapped whilst replacing the headlight switch after a cleaning.

I have grown accustom to just counting rather than waiting for "the glow indication" from the actual coil. I am concerned about the coils location in the wiring harness relative to the plugs; is a closed circuit required across the glow coil? or is the system merely a peripheral, parallel circuit? I dont recall whether the coil is connected at this point (by simply extending the broken wires of the coil toward one another) or not.

Does someone have a wiring diagram for a 78 BJ40 handy. Mine chasis manual is for the "superglow" system that was in later models I believe.

Also, realize the thread has been dead for quite some time. Sorry bout that.

Thanks,

Austin
 
I have been having similar difficulties after my coil snapped whilst replacing the headlight switch after a cleaning.

I have grown accustom to just counting rather than waiting for "the glow indication" from the actual coil. I am concerned about the coils location in the wiring harness relative to the plugs; is a closed circuit required across the glow coil? or is the system merely a peripheral, parallel circuit? I dont recall whether the coil is connected at this point (by simply extending the broken wires of the coil toward one another) or not.

Does someone have a wiring diagram for a 78 BJ40 handy. Mine chasis manual is for the "superglow" system that was in later models I believe.

Also, realize the thread has been dead for quite some time. Sorry bout that.

Thanks,

Austin

Hi Austin

You have added to an old thread that is so full of errors/misconceptions that I won't even attempt to correct them all.

The glow controller on your BJ40 is wired in series with parrallel-connected glowplugs.

Replacing your glow controller with a simple lamp/light would NOT work without also altering your wiring and changing your glowplugs to higher voltage ones.

Here's the circuitry for a 12V 1978 BJ40. (You haven't said what voltage yours is.)

Start&GlowWiring.jpg

:beer:

Edit. A BJ42 glow controller would be fine as a replacement (provided the donor vehicle was the same voltage). The only difference is that the unit is much more "enclosed" than your old 1978 BJ40 controller. (28550-57010 is the part number for the 12V version.)
Start&GlowWiring.jpg
 
Last edited:

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom