2009 CashCow - Glowplug code gone!

[Brigsy]

Absolutely agree in leaving them be, i had a k9k heater plug nip on the way in and shear, which cost me £150 to get it removed. When they briefly all worked there was no difference to running, only changed them as idle is sometimes chuggy which i think is an injector on its way.

[cort16]

I think every diesel car I've owned including relatively new ones, which  started no problem had glow plug codes.

[beko1987]

Mine struggles when very cold and not driven for a few days, but always starts.

I found the relay earlier and unplugged it, and plugged it back in.. Confirmed the type I need but it was too cold to bother testing anything.... It's had new glow plugs, im tempted to try a cheap relay next week. Unless it's warmer tomorrow, I might try testing then 

[cort16]

1 minute ago, beko1987 said:

Mine struggles when very cold and not driven for a few days, but always starts.

I found the relay earlier and unplugged it, and plugged it back in.. Confirmed the type I need but it was too cold to bother testing anything.... It's had new glow plugs, im tempted to try a cheap relay next week. Unless it's warmer tomorrow, I might try testing then 

If you cycle the ignition a few times does it start any easier?

[beko1987]

1 hour ago, cort16 said:

If you cycle the ignition a few times does it start any easier?

Not noticeably, I usually stop after it's been churning for 10 or so times, then it fires more quickly on go 2, but if I didn't stop and go again it stumbles into life after a bit more. Then fires up and is fine although I'm bloody glad I've not got a dpf to catch all the clag it produces 😬

I've tried doing 2 or 3 cycles of the glowplugs before hitting the starter too and that doesn't make any difference.

Putting the new battery on back in March helped the most I think, at least now it happily cranks it's way through and isn't really an issue

Hopefully I can integrate this into the sponsored segments of the Yt video I'm filming, fixing a dyson and my car 😂🤞 

[beko1987]

The wind was far less today than yesterday, so I went out and ohm read my glowplugs. All 0/0.003 dropping to 0 quickly.

Which is good really as I replaced them already, albeit with really cheap ones so I don't mind having checked!

I farted around trying to film some bits in the wind with no tripod or experience with filming working on cars, and took the old unit off.

I'm no expert but ive never seen Nageres on my travels... Nothing else electrical on the car is Nageres 🤔

Removing it and re fitting it didn't clear the code so I'm gonna buy a new relay. Apparently there's 3 flavors of Dci 1.5, I need to work out which mine is. I took this photo of the door shut sticker incase that helps me later

For £60 the obd reader thing physically is excellent, nice and sturdy with rubber grips but I still need to get my head around the software.

[beko1987]

The cheap replacement glowplug relay arrived and makes no difference. The code comes back.

I'm tempted to whip one of the glow plugs out to read the markings incase I put the wrong voltage ones in without realising 🤔 My engine comes back as a 12v system, I could have been silly and got 7v plugs without realising it

[Rust Collector]

Did you put decent plugs in it when you you changed them? My experience of cheap glow plugs is that they briefly get you out the shit but don’t seem to last very long at all.

My K9K Clio has a couple of bad plugs at the moment, and the active fault code means the plugs are disabled completely until I replace the 1 that tricks it into thinking they’re ok (the plugs are paired on my car, 2 plug out in a pair doesn’t trigger a code, 2 out does). Without the plugs it cranks a long time when cold, and chucks out plumes of white smoke when it eventually catches. From warm it’s still spot on, and will be spot on again when I pull my finger out and change the plugs again.

[beko1987]

38 minutes ago, Rust Collector said:

Did you put decent plugs in it when you you changed them? My experience of cheap glow plugs is that they briefly get you out the shit but don’t seem to last very long at all.

My K9K Clio has a couple of bad plugs at the moment, and the active fault code means the plugs are disabled completely until I replace the 1 that tricks it into thinking they’re ok (the plugs are paired on my car, 2 plug out in a pair doesn’t trigger a code, 2 out does). Without the plugs it cranks a long time when cold, and chucks out plumes of white smoke when it eventually catches. From warm it’s still spot on, and will be spot on again when I pull my finger out and change the plugs again.

No, they were cheap shitty plugs. I've been pondering this all afternoon 😂 They ohm tested OK the other day but they were cheap ebay specials

I'm about to go searching for if I need 4v or 11v plugs then try and find a good source of the right set of plugs and try them. Probably with the original relay back in... Almost tempted to take a plug out and check what I got but it also probably doesn't matter...

[beko1987]

I hit the internet this morning once the kids went home, and via a Vin number parts search every glow plug I searched for off the part number was 11v.

Cool, but the ebay listing I bought my plugs from doesn't list a voltage and I wouldn't trust it if it did. So, I went outside and stripped the engine down quickly

I got too excited then as I prodded the 3rd plug connector and it wasn't connected! I connected it, cleared the code and kicked the car over as you see it above but it came back. 

The car didn't start well doing this, which I expected but what I didn't see was the lovely Helen 2 doors up had come out to her car and saw mine fail to start and offered me a jumpstart before she left if I needed. Explained what I was doing and thanked her as now I know where to go if I do ever need one 😂👌

No3 plug was solid as fuck but no4 came out easily and it is indeed an 11v plug

The tip doesn't look to have done much but also they've probably not done anything since I fitted them...

I put those back in, fully assembled everything then cleared the codes and re checked, still the fault. I then refitted the original glow plug relay and noticed my new one has one less spade than the one on the car... Should probably confirm what it should have really...

The end result is still 

These seem to be the ideal plugs going by a part number

But I'll do some more research first. Car still starts as it did so that's good at least! Or maybe I need to take it somewhere and pay an hours labour for them to properly scan it.

Any hooky leads and software about for Nissan?

[beko1987]

But it doesnt confirm if I should have a 7 pin or 8 pin relay... Searching for the part number finds both fairly equally.

I found a nice genuine 7 pin one

But with the super trustful* ebay car checker thing (being sure I have the correct engine variant selected) it says no

Find an 8 pin relay (which is what I bought a cheap one of) and it says it fits

As much as I'd be happy to slap some Bosch decent glow plugs in if it would cure it, I want to be sure it has the right relay on it first... Might go look at other parts sites and see if they give more info 👍

The car has a 7 pin relay fitted but I dont know if its a genuine one or not? Nor do I know how to test it re(a)lay 

 

 

[RoverFolkUs]

On 28/12/2025 at 11:46, beko1987 said:

All 0/0.003 dropping to 0 quickly.

This isn't right, are the glow plugs still out of the engine? 

Check them all individually, one lead on the terminal of the glow plug and the other lead on the body of it. You need around 1ohm

[beko1987]

Just now, RoverFolkUs said:

This isn't right, are the glow plugs still out of the engine? 

Check them all individually, one lead on the terminal of the glow plug and the other lead on the body of it. You need around 1ohm

No I only removed one. Engine is stone cold and didn't fancy trying my luck.

Will revisit the ohm testing. One glow plug connector was certainly not connected properly (but it's not all magically fixed itself now it is 🤷)

If Im going to remove all the glowplugs again I need to time it so I've got the engine hot first. 

[sierraman]

This is why buying cheap spurious bits off eBay can send you in circles.

[beko1987]

23 minutes ago, sierraman said:

This is why buying cheap spurious bits off eBay can send you in circles.

Yep, as soon as I realised the pins were different And I didn't know which was correct I knew the game was up 😂

I've wasted money on worse 🤷 But hence the need/want for doing a bit of diag before buying anything else!

Luckily it's not a dpf car, would be a shit load more urgent then

[scdan4]

 

Not sure what's being achieved with resistance measurements, not the way I was shown.

Have you checked that the plugs work? I've always done this by holding the hex/body of the plug firmly in insulated pliers, attaching a short 12v + croc clipped lead from the positive terminal to the thread on the top of the plug. Hold pliers against the negative battery terminal for 3 or so seconds and watch the tip of the glowplug, it'll glow and get hot.

Have you tested that the glowplugs are getting+12v when the ignition is being turned on and that the relay is working? Test between the threaded top of the plug and the battery negative/ engine block. Should see 12v when ignition clicked on. 

Without those 2 confirmations it feels like it's all guessing a bit to me.

[beko1987]

Might be a bit of a faff getting the + in under the cap on top of the plug but I could jam some other bit of wire under there first 🤔

Thanks, will try at least the 2nd suggestion over the weekend. Might get brave and try the heating them up suggestion but I'll see if any of them get any voltage.

Re ohm testing, it's the main common answer when googling glow plug issues so I went down that avenue. I tried once but wasn't using my multimeter again so will test once more.

But 12v present or not would narrow things down, would the car send 12v through it all with a stored code though?

[beko1987]

Went out with the boy earlier to go frozen puddle hunting, and when we got back we stayed out and prodded the car some more. (whilst Charlie messed about with the thick frost on it)

You do need a pin/needle to get good contact with the connector it seems, and of the 4 pins that actually do anything I got an ohm reading from 3 but 0 from one of them 🤔

For fun whilst there I checked and there's good 12v at the main plug even with the car stone dead and the keys in my pocket...

Come back in for today but I think the next job is to re strip the engine plastics then put the air pipe back on, and triple check each glow plug connector actually has continuity, then wedge some wire under the cap of the connector and see if any of them get 12v at some point.

I then turned the car on and it fired up cleanly after a spin and a half of the starter to mock me. Dtc is still coming back though.

 

[beko1987]

Oops

Annoyingly I checked that I had a bulb kit in the boot this morning but neglected to check if it actually had a h7 in so when I went to change it at lunchtime at the office I couldn't. I then couldn't find the other bulb kits I know I've got somewhere (I remember sorting them out when I had the xsara) so went into the shed and in a big tub of random small shit was an h7!

Success! Tempted to rawdog this until payday then order a set of £16.99 night breakers. I do fear that will make me a total cunt to other drivers though being high up... Or what will probably happen is I'll never touch it again until another one goes 🤷

As I was fitting them the Amazon van turned up. Also missing one headlight 🙄

[beko1987]

Car insurance time! Its up early next month which means I've had this almost  a year 😂🎉

Gone down too, and I've got more! It's an expensive tub to insure anyway, I guess statistically loads are involved in accidents that are 120% their fault, but I was paying £60, it's now £48 a month.

Has rac nationwide tow-you-home/repair, my protected ncb and 300 miles of business use. 

I'm sure some other bill will increase by £20 next month just because 😢

[beko1987]

It finally wasn't either raining or icy today, so I finished off my troubleshooting on the car.

Engine covers back off, then I continuity checked all 4 glowplug wires back to the relay. All passed. I then got some wire, wedged it between the plug and connector at the glow plug and confirmed 11v to each plug for a short timer before it goes back to 0

I left all the engine covers off, I think a better set of glow plugs is my next step, payday later this week too, then I can get them in after driving home from work one day so the engine is nice and hot

[RoverFolkUs]

On 02/01/2026 at 14:03, scdan4 said:

 

Not sure what's being achieved with resistance measurements, not the way I was shown.

Have you checked that the plugs work? I've always done this by holding the hex/body of the plug firmly in insulated pliers, attaching a short 12v + croc clipped lead from the positive terminal to the thread on the top of the plug. Hold pliers against the negative battery terminal for 3 or so seconds and watch the tip of the glowplug, it'll glow and get hot.

Have you tested that the glowplugs are getting+12v when the ignition is being turned on and that the relay is working? Test between the threaded top of the plug and the battery negative/ engine block. Should see 12v when ignition clicked on. 

Without those 2 confirmations it feels like it's all guessing a bit to me.

Have fun putting 12v to a 4v or 7v glow plug 😆😆

It's not as simple as that anymore with moderns, you can't be sure it's got 12v glow plugs without checking. 

Resistance checks are best done at the glow plugs themselves but when they're buried away you can check them via the loom to get an indication 

[beko1987]

There's someone on one of the qashqai Facebook groups who works at nissan, and has been looking up people's cars for them! He ran mine and it's been seen by Nissan 3 times in the past!

No idea what for, but it's the only service history prior to my ownership I have 😂

I bought 4 bosch glowplugs the other day too, hoping to fit them next week (they'll turn up tomorrow morning but I'll be at my dad's by then)

[Brigsy]

Ref glow plugs. One of the lads on another forum i go on has had similar issues with non working glowplugs/fault stored on a clio dci of similar vingage/basically same engine. He done the same process replacing glowplugs and relay for an aftermarket one and no joy. Turned out that the aftermarket relay is shit and does not work same as oem after checking wiring. 

Id try another oem glowplug relay.

[beko1987]

17 hours ago, Brigsy said:

Ref glow plugs. One of the lads on another forum i go on has had similar issues with non working glowplugs/fault stored on a clio dci of similar vingage/basically same engine. He done the same process replacing glowplugs and relay for an aftermarket one and no joy. Turned out that the aftermarket relay is shit and does not work same as oem after checking wiring. 

Id try another oem glowplug relay.

The cheap relay I bought was the wrong one anyway (8 pin not 7), need to see if I can still return that.

Ive got the original one fitted again, and spent the other day testing the wires and checked for voltage at all 4 plug wires and have it.

At home now are 4x bosch decent plugs that arrived (I'm in London today) as my final try before just living with it until the car dies of natural causes!

[beko1987]

My glowplugs arrived yesterday. Today at 3 I got home after leaving Huntingdonshire and smashing straight through to south oxon.

Fucking failure of a job! Started with the most fiddly one and it took about 15 minutes to fiddle it out, it was quite stuck and I could only lever it with pliers and screwdrivers and didn't want to fuck  them up if they didnt come out.

Finally it came up! Huzzah, I opened the first bosch and promptly dropped it down the front bumper between it and the rad pack. Fuck.

Grabbed another, fitted that and then the kids came round. Said hello and got started with the 2nd one. Another 20 minute battle and the engine went cold. Fuck.

Rubber mat went over the engine, and the plug was loose, so I fired it up. Massive bang as the plug nicely ejected itself and a 2nd went in.

I called it there on the other 2, and spent 5 minutes with my son undoing some of the undertray to find the entire bottom of the rad pack is boxed in and you can't see anything.

Got to take the bumper off to look I think. It lives there for now.

Gonna scan the codes later and see if changing 2 of 4 has done anything, but ive got to wait until another hot return home with an hour to spare before going at the other 2. That's if the lost one doesn't fall out as I go to work Tuesday, that'll be a tenner wasted 😢

Gonna find some yt vids in a bit and see how easy peeling some of the bumper back will be, could try tomorrow after work (wfh tomorrow, the car won't move now) in the dark I guess

[beko1987]

Code is still present

[beko1987]

Nipped out after 4 when I logged off work and set about removing the bumper. I started by removing the grille

And thank goodness it was sat on here (I'd grabbed it before taking the Pic incase it fell further)

Can change the other 2 another night now and see if the code goes or not. If it doesn't then I'm out of ideas, finding a nearby garage to do some diagnostic will be the next step if I bother going that far with it 

[beko1987]

Bought this 1 year ago today! 

[Talbot]

For checking the glowplugs.  Assuming they are 11v ones (not lower voltage ones) get a jump lead, hold the body (the threaded bit) of the plug in one end of the jump lead, and put the other end of the lead to battery negative.

Then, carefully, touch the electrical +ve connection of the glow plug to the battery positive.

The end of the glowplug should almost immediately start to smoke, and then within a second or two should glow red hot.  After 4 or 5 seconds it should be an intense bright orange glow.

If it doesn't glow after a couple of seconds, it's scrap.  If anywhere other than the tip starts to glow, it's scrap.