slight starting problem

[Leighton Wood]

i was wondering if anyone can help with this, my ignition is acting like its on a timer, weirdly, i turn the key and wait a second or two for glow plug to go out and turn key and it starts no probs
but if i leave the glow light go out and wait a couple more seconds i turn key and nothing, no noise, no clicks nothing its like the starter just completely disconnects but turn it off and on again and it starts as long as i dont wait too long itll start straight up, but rarely the glow light can stay on for around 10 seconds by which is too long so key wont start so keep turning on or off till its only on for around 2 seconds then start
a couple of times ive had to start it with the glow light still on and it starts but instantly revs upto 2000 for a few seconds then returns to normal.
i hope someone can make sense out of all that above and is able to help as its doing my head in

[johnnyroper]

Sounds very odd,firstly I would get vcds plugged in and see if any fault codes are logged and then go from there.

[insanitybeard]

Sounds almost like a relay isn't staying energised or the ignition switch isn't keeping the necessary circuits powered up, I'm sure it's been said on this forum that some late model Mk2's had defective ignition switches but I can't remember what the symptoms were.

Having said that, you need to try to determine if the fault is directly related to the glow plug lamp operation and the length of time it stays illuminated for, if the lamp is staying illuminated continuously for ten seconds with no set pattern to it's behaviour then the cause of that needs to be determined.

P.S, you've got no vehicle details at all in your profile- what have you got? What reg (i.e, year) is it? What engine? It's hard to be of much help when we've no idea of the vehicle specifics!