onegolf Posted September 4, 2005 Report Share Posted September 4, 2005 Can anyone help: the glow plug warning light on the dash starts flashing on and off about every second or two - it would seem when the engine is warm only - no probs starting and seems to run ok otherwise. Do I have a dodgy glow plug somewhere? Any help appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rustynuts Posted September 5, 2005 Report Share Posted September 5, 2005 I've not heard much about it in the English cars, but the US spec calls for an indicator for when a brake bulb is blown. VW decided to use a flashing glow plug light to indicate this, and I'm not sure if the UK spec ones are the same. It's worth checking your brake lights and making sure they're all working ok. Then it could be the brake switch which is known to be faulty quite a lot of times, but again this depends on the failed bulb indicator system I just detailed. The switch either doesn't turn the brake lights on or they don't go off. Those are simple things to check, so have a look and get back to us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onegolf Posted September 7, 2005 Author Report Share Posted September 7, 2005 Thanks for that - I had been told that I had one brake light out (which I had totally forgotten about) - and when I checked them both bulbs had failed. Seems like the UK spec might include similar to the US. Not sure why the warning wasn't on solidly rather than only some of the time though? Seems to have fixed it - at least haven't had a recurrence yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rustynuts Posted September 8, 2005 Report Share Posted September 8, 2005 Good enough. A cheap fix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigCol Posted September 18, 2005 Report Share Posted September 18, 2005 I think the glowplug light flashing has something to do with the safety system of the DBW (drive by wire) throttle. A built in function of the system means that regardless of where the throttle is, if the brakes are put on, the engine cuts to idle. Obviously if the brake lights / switch are out this system is disabled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkainth Posted September 11, 2007 Report Share Posted September 11, 2007 This post was really useful. I had the same flashing glow plug light appear on my GT TDI. I checked the break lights and none of them are coming on so I guess it's the switch. How easy is this to replace and how much would the part cost? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
activa Posted September 11, 2007 Report Share Posted September 11, 2007 The switch is a fiver from GSF and it takes about 10 minutes to fit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benjie Posted September 11, 2007 Report Share Posted September 11, 2007 If both your brake lights fail, the third one at the top of the rear window should be on all the time as a warning to other drivers. The glow plug light could have been going on and off like that because the problem with the brake pedal switch was intermittent - that's what it was like when mine went. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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