Glow plugs showing 0.01 ohms...

[casethejoint 290]

Hi All,

I'm normally an electric guy, but the hot weather for some reason has made me want to blow the dust off my old Ansman Nitro 1/8th buggy from about 2002.

It's in good order - last run maybe 2-3 years ago. It has a glow plug in it, and I had 3 which were unopened until today, bought new about 10 years ago plugs. 

None of them work (have tried with 3 different igniters, all of which are good and showing 1.2v+).

They all have continuity, and show a DC resistance of 0.01 ohms - which sounds low to me, but would draw a heck of a current you'd expect to glow hot. They don't even get mildly warm.

Do they normally go bad over time? I've ordered some new ones just to be certain, but would be good to get your experience of what might be wrong.

[mtbkym01 3530]

I’ve never know them to go bad while still in the packaging. 

[sosidge 617]

5 hours ago, mtbkym01 said:

I’ve never know them to go bad while still in the packaging. 

Agreed, there is nothing in them to go bad. A tiny coil of wire attached to the two contacts in the plug body. They'll either work or they won't. More likely to be the glow starters that are bad (or not being connected properly).

[WillyChang 1805]

Your glow ignitor battery isn’t giving enough juice to light the plugs. Unless the coil is broken (= open circuit) it should always glow  

Plugs can still go bad if the precious metal plating (catalyst) has worn off the coil; on an old used plug obviously. Engine will start fine when igniter is attached, dies when removed. 

Brand new plugs can also be bad out of packet if the fail to seal. If the plug ain’t airtight your compression ain’t happening. 

[casethejoint 290]

You're all right - glow ignitor(s) were the issue - all 4 of them!

Made my own by replacing the battery on one and bingo - all good, and now I'm behaving noisy and smelly - awesome

Buggy is currently stalling out under higher throttle - think it's maybe a bit lean. Going to richen up the HSN and have another go tomorrow.