Glowplugs In Indirect Fuel Injection Diesel Engine

[k_nitin_r 8]

Hi!I am currently vacationing in India and happened to get my old Maruti Suzuki Esteem Di back. Folks who are not familiar with the Indian automotive scene can think of it as a slight variation of the Suzuki Cultus. The Suzuki Cultus is an older model of the Maruti Suzuki Esteem and the one that I have bears a different and cooler front grill and rear (the picture below is of the older model):http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Suzuki_Swift_4door_red_vl.jpgIt has also been referred to as the Suzuki Swift, but shouldn't be confused with the cute-looking modern-day Suzuki Swift hatchback with rounded corners.The car still runs well after 100,000 km (added up through weekly trips of 600 km by me during holidays over the past six years, and from lots of long road trips by the guy who looked after it while I was away) and modifications that increase the rpm and fuel pressure. I don't really have a clue of what the modifications are because they were done by the guy who was looking after the car while I was away. The glow plugs (some of you may call it the heater plugs) that heat up the Peugeot TUD5 indirect fuel injection engine seem to be shot as the car takes a bit of cranking to get started and for the rpm to stabilize. Apparently, the car tries to figure out the rpm on a cold start by doing the revving on its own to keep the engine from stalling while cold... on starting, you can actually see the rpm counter go to 1,000 rpm and then begin to drop, which causes the revving to 2,000 rpm for a second and then it stays at 1,000 rpm. It may be a smart ECU or the modification that does it, as I haven't seen that happen in any other vehicles yet. I was just wondering how the car manages to start without the glow plugs - does it just build up the needed heat from the initial startup cranking or do the glow plugs still partially work to heat up but not sufficiently enough to provide a smooth start? The problem seems common in the mornings or if I haven't driven it for a day, but while running it does not seem to cause any problems.I have not had any breakdowns with the car in about six years and the car still runs on the original battery. I always thought batteries died after two years of operation, as I have observed on my old Toyota Avalon. The Esteem is due for its 100,000 km service (yes, I would be going in before the odometer clocks 101,000 km but I have yet to find the time to have the car sent over to a service center that does the 100,000 km service - most service centers don't!), which involves replacing the fuel pumps and hose pipes, in addition to the regular stuff such as the oil and filter change, tire rotation, and tightening of the nuts and bolts. I would also be getting the glow plugs changed.BTW, does anyone else have a Peugeot TUD5 engine under the hood? The Maruti Suzuki Esteem D/Di (I drive the Esteem Di... the only difference seems to be that the Di comes with front power windows with the Esteem D does not) comes with the 1,600 cc (approx.) Peugeot TUD5 indirect fuel injection inline cylinder diesel engine, as did the Maruti Suzuki Zen D/Di. Maruti Suzuki no longer uses the Peugeot TUD5 engine due to the added cost of having it sent from France - instead, they use a Fiat-sourced engine that is also used by the Fiat Linea, a model sold in India. The 1,400 cc Peugeot TUD5 engine can be found in the Tata Indica.