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Diesel engines run on fuel that’s much thicker than gas, adding to the difficulty of cold-weather starts. To aid combustion, small electric heaters called glow plugs warm pre-combustion or combustion chambers of a cold diesel engine before it’s started so that the fuel is easier to ignite. Diesels don’t have spark plugs, so the air-fuel mixture is ignited by compression. To start a cold diesel engine, a driver typically has to turn the ignition to the On position to activate the glow plugs then wait several seconds before starting the engine. Glow plugs aren’t needed once a diesel engine reaches its normal operating temperature.
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