Glow Plug light not coming on 1HDFT

[gavincurrandingle]

Hi guys, wondering if anyone can advise me. I have a 97 HDJ80 with the 1HDFT engine. Yesterday I noticed that the glow plug light didnt come on when i turned the key in the ignition, and the same story this morning. I read somewhere that this engine doesnt have glow plugs. A little confused by this. Any advice before i take it to my mechanic? Cheers.

 

[chapel gate]

it has a glow screen bolted onto the cross over pipe.
it pre heats the intake air.

 

[Towpack]

As CG has said, it doesn't have glowplugs as such. The heater unit is fed by a relay situated beneath the driver's side (RHD) battery tray. This relay has been known to burn out. I believe there was a recall for it decades ago but I can't imagine your local Toyota dealer being interested anymore! Here's a related thread with a photo of the relay I removed....IH Relay.
The dash warning light was still operating on mine even though the relay wasn't. AFAIK the operation of the cold start heater is controlled by sensors and a timer.

 

[Zipper]

Hi
By coincidence, I connected a bluetooth OBD2 dongle to my '76 (with 1VD-FTV) to display various engine data on an app on my phone. I noticed that when the dongle was connected, the glow plug light did not come on, but when I removed the dongle the glow plug light was active again. Don't know specifically why, but 100% coincident.
Was the 1HDFT late enough to have OBD2? May be relevant to later vehicles though if not.

 

[Towpack]

OBD2 was released in 1996 so it's possible the last 80's built in 1997 are although it wasn't a requirement on diesels sold in the EU until 2004.