snapped glow plug HELP

[lukeb]

Hello all,

I've been working on my 2013 Ford Transit with the FWD 2.2 TDCI engine and while replacing the EGR valve, I also went and did the glow plugs as 2 of them weren't working. I got 3 out fine, but 1 of them snapped. The thread for the glow plug and the internal electrode came out, so the outer layer after the thread is still inside.

So, I grabbed one of those glow plug removal tool kits off ebay, drilled the glow plug, tapped it, and inserted the extractor but with no luck as the bolt that screwed into the now tapped glow plug, just slipped out. So, I figured a bolt extractor might do the job. Attached that to some locking pliers, and screwed it in, hoping it would force the plug out, and what do you know, now the bolt extractor is stuck inside the glow plug that is stuck inside the engine.

I do not have anything to heat the glow plug up with but I thought, why not put the other 3 brand new glow plugs in, put the engine back together, start it up and get it up to temp, then turn it off, take off the inlet manifold and attempt to extract the plug again now that the engine is nice and warm. My question is will starting the engine up cause the glow plug to loosen and fall into the engine, or is this a good idea?

Any other ideas are welcome, too!

[metalworker0]

At this stage, i think the heads going to have to come off.

Watched a video last week ,,same problem, but with an injector.

He welded a nut on it .. no go .. the thing was corroded into the head.

Head had to come off in the end.

from 2:59 here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IV-CWlg0ra4

You can watch earlier vids of his struggle from his profile.

Note: the trouble with glowplugs is they are made of ceramic porcelain material .. get just one piece of that in the cylinder and it will score it badly, as the stuff is harder than steel.

Good time to replace the timing chain .

all the best.mark

[STEVE P]

Agreed get the head off, a mate had the same problem with his Peujeot and thought he had managed to get all the bits out, a few miles later it was smoking like an old steam train as some of the ceramic had scored a bore. He ended up scrapping it because the cost of repairs was going to be more than it was worth.

[andz327]

start it up, just dont stand in front of it in case it fires out the broken part, the size of the tip on the glow plug is the size of the hole so your glow plug isn't going down into the engine , did you try soaking broken part with loose juice before trying to extract it with slide hammer,
using a bolt extractor may have widened the the glow plug casing jamming it up .....definitely wrong tool for that job, if you can get extractor out, using the drill bit supplied drill down a bit more hopefully catching the part damaged by extractor, use the tap then screw in the slide hammer and gently goes it , use loose juice like Plus Gas , or specialist glow plug/injector releasing juice......
shouldn't need to take head off

Sent from my SM-G990B using Tapatalk

[WheelyBigBox]

I also went and did the glow plugs as 2 of them weren't working.

That was your achillies heel - wanting to fix what didn't need fixing. Been there and done that with several motors myself. For whatever reason, it never seems to bloody end well

The glow plugs are only really needed for very cold starts. My old mk6 still starts on the button and it's had 15 previous owners. By that I mean, it's been sat 7 months. Last started 3-4 months back. Yesterday I put a freshly charged battery in it, hit the starter and it was running instantly - I don't think it even cranked a full revolution of the engine.

My glow plugs have been dead for years. Even in winter it will still start on compression only.

[STEVE P]

One of my neighbours has an old Citroen diesel car, she only uses it a couple of times a week and it has at least one glow plug not working but always starts sometimes with a couple of churns. it is obviously missing on one but maybe two cylinders as it starts but after a few seconds it is running on all 4. Last year she asked me to take it for the MOT as she had not long been out of hospital, the tester mentioned he thought it probably had a glow plug out but it didnt seem to be a problem on the emissions. He reckoned they never come out hole on that particular engine so suggested I leave it. He suggested a sniff of easy start for cold days because by the head had been removed and all the bits and pieces she could be facing a bill of £1k.