Fiat Bravo Quiz
Diesel injection system

Diesel glow plug system

In this manual: Diesel injection system
Dear Reader — 1Engine — 35Engine lubrication — 3Engine cooling — 10Ignition/spark plugs — 14Fuel system — 10Petrol fuel injection — 13Diesel injection system — 13Exhaust system — 7Clutch — 7Transmission / Gearshift / Automatic Transmission — 5Front Axle — 11Rear axle — 4Steering — 9Wheel alignment — 1Brake system — 22Wheels and tyres — 10Body — 34Heating — 6Electrical system — 39Lighting system — 14Instruments — 7Windscreen wiper system — 8Vehicle care / tools — 6Jump Starting / Towing the Vehicle — 3Jacking up the vehicle — 1Fiat Bravo / Brava Maintenance Schedule — 1Maintenance — 38Wiring diagrams — 5
~1min read

When the engine is cold, the self-ignition temperature is not reached by compression alone, so the engine must be preheated.

For this purpose, a rod-type glow plug is screwed into each combustion chamber. The glow plug essentially consists of a housing with a pressed-in heating element. As soon as voltage is applied, the heating coil in the heating element heats up to over +850 °C within a few seconds, so the preheating time until starting is rarely longer than 5 seconds. When the glow plug indicator light on the instrument panel goes out, the engine can be started.

The duration of preheating and the automatic afterglow after starting (up to approx. 20 seconds) is controlled by the diesel control unit, which activates a glow plug relay.

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