[v8volvo]

Good news. Yeah, should start immediately on the first glow cycle, even at very cold temps and even if the engine is pretty tired. Should never take multiple glow cycles and generally you don't even need to wait out the light for the first cycle.

Sounds like you have a wiring issue causing the sticking glow relay. Two wires could cause this, in the 4-wire plug on the bottom of the relay - there's a brown wire that comes from the GP temp sensor and controls glow duration, if it has a bad connection it could cause extended glow time. There's also a starter wire, green I think, that tells the relay when the starter is running and shuts off the plugs a few seconds later. If this wire has a bad connection the relay won't get the signal to cut off. Wire harness problems on this era are common so you might want to inspect the wires, connections, check resistance, etc.