Tdi problems-glow plug light comming on and staying on!

[Prawn]

Evening girls and boys.....

posting on behalf of my mum here, she seems to have developed a problem on her 98 tdi A3, i THINK its a tdi 90 ( was sold as a tdi110 but has 280mm front brakes, and feels slow)

anyway, apparently, when its started up, after 30 seconds ticking over, the glow plug light comes on and stays on.

my dad says theres no noticable loss in power, and it seems to run fine still....

the manual would suggest that its an engine management issue, and its gone into safe/limp mode, but surely if its driving fine and no dip in power, this cant be the case?

any ideas?

 

[Prawn]

ok, i got it slightly wrong, the light flickers on continously...... but doesnt stay lit constantly.

 

[VAGMAN1]

try the cheap option first of changing all 4 plugs (cheap to buy and easy to replace) and/or get a basic diagnostic done i.e. see if the engine ECU is showing up any fault codes - btw you don't have to pay an audi dealer the £80 or so that most of them charge for a diagnostic - any garage with diagnostic kit can check fault codes for around £20-30.