Hi guys. Thanks for all the great advice on this site. I am going to have my intake manifold off and was wondering about the glowplugs. I have read many of the posts re: the horrors of them siezing. The previous owner had them changed a year or two ago.

Since I will be near them, is it worth taking them out, putting antisieze paste on them and putting them back in, or should I just leave well enough alone? I don't have the $80 reaming tool, so I wouldn't be doing that. Any thoughts?

Thanks

I had the pre-chambers out at 55K and they were fine. Reason was that I had a GP stuck in the head. If I were you, at this time, you are in a good position to take them out without seizing. Take them out and coat the threads with anti-seize and be happy. Took them out again at 120K and they came out smoothly.

__________________
01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

If you decide to remove them for the purpose of anti-seizing the threads, please do three things:

First, use a torque wrench so you can limit the force you apply. As you know, too much force and they'll break. If you're lucky, they'll come out with less than 55 Nm torque, but you should be able to go up to 80 Nm if you're careful. (Other readers, please weigh in on this.)

Second, use a 6-point deep socket, not 12-point. Newer GPs (you said PO changed them a year ago) seem to be made of softer metal than the OE plugs, and a 12-point socket can tear them up. I know this from personal experience, and had to buy a Snap-On fluted grip socket to get the bugger out.

Third, use PB Blaster and go nice and slow if the plugs resist. Twist out a tiny bit, squirt, twist back in, repeat.

>>Any thoughts?

About 6 months ago, I changed the glow plugs on my E300D, as part of a larger job I was doing because the intake valve seats of No6 had failed.

I was dreading the job, because of what I had read about them snapping.

I found on the Beru web site that they list a breakage torque for the glow plugs, so, you can set your torque wrench to that figure - if they move, then you'll probably be OK, if they don't, then leave it until you *have* to take it out. IIRC, you can apply 40Nm with safety - but please check this figure yourself - a few pints of ale have been supped in between then and now!

I found 4 of the 6 came out really easily. The two that didn't had allowed carbon to leak past the taper seal, and fill the void between the glow plug body and the bored hole in the head. These 2 plugs fought all the way out, and needed more than 50Nm to move them.

Therefore, in my opinion, the main thing to check is this taper seal. Make sure it is well cleaned. Consider using some lubricant there to help the plug to seal. An idea given to me by an extremely erudite member of a UK forum I frequent - consider fitting the plug with some engineer's blue, and then removing it to check that the taper seal is actually sealing all the way round.

I know the inlet manifold will have to come off mine again soon, because I found the wiring was falling to bits. I just need to negotiate some funding from the better looking half of our household!

Machine shop suggested that we coat the entire GP body with anti-seize. Leave the tip clean tho

__________________
01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

I can see the sense of that suggestion for two reasons;

1) If the void is full of anti-seize, how can any carbon get in there?

2) With some anti-seize on the taper section, during torquing up, the taper is more likely to slide around and "find" its best location and form a proper seal.