Poor Cold Start Glow Plug Issue

[Callum91]

Hi all,

new member here with a question regarding the glow plug system.

When cold starting the van it takes a lot of cranking to get it going when the weather is cold. Once it's running the glow plug light on the dash flickers. Once it's fired and run up to temperature, subsequent starts and drives in that day seem to be without issue (fires after a few cranks and no flickering light on dash).

I have replaced the glow plugs and that's not fixed the issue. So I attempted to check if there was power at each plug. When I put a volt meter between the battery and each plug I seem to get approx. 12v. I don't know what I'm doing in this regard so that might be a useless step.

Anyway having read a few bit's online I think the glow plugs take information from the coolant temperature on whether to heat up or not, and interestingly my coolant temp gauge on the dash has never worked since I've had it. Could this be the issue? Coolant temp sensor fault maybe? If so where is the sensor located? I've also thought about changing the glow plugs relay. Total scatter gun approach I know!

Any help much appreciated.

All the best,
Callum

Vehicle Details: 2006 Transit Connect T200 LX 1.8 TDDi