sd glow plug removal- tips?

[Bruce Appel]

I did a search, read the faq section. My 85 sdl has a glow plug relay going bad, so I bought the bosch fastglow kit from Fastlane. I have service records for the car, and it looks like the glow plugs were changed at 105k, so my thought is I may as well change them now.With my luck I would change the relay just to have the glow plugs go bad two days later.
Any special tips? Will using penetrating oil on the glow plugs for a few days make it any easier to get them out? Do I really need a reamer? Any and all advice will be greatly apreciated.

[Brian Carlton]

It would be better if you clarified whether you have an '86 SDL with the 603 engine or an '85 SD with the 617 engine.

[whunter]

is to take the car out for an Italian tune-up.
When it is nice and hot, rush back home, begin pulling the glow plugs as fast as possible; without burning yourself.
Glow plugs come out of a hot engine much easier than a cold engine.

[Bruce Appel]

Sorry, it is an 85 sd.

[Fisherman]

I remove all the injector lines so it makes i much easier to access the plugs. Also when you have them out you can use a drill bit or even a tap if you have a set to ream the holes. Yes you need to ream them as this alone can cause a very noticeable inprovement inthe starting of the vehicle wihtout replacing plugs, unless of course teh plugs in question are shot.

Once you have reamed the hole you can turn the engine over with the plugs out to eject any cabon that may have been loosened. You can also lightly coat the drill bit or reamer that you use with grease to help hold on to the carbon that is dislodged. Also when you turn over the engine to eject the carbon place a rag over the IP so that you don't spit fuel all over...

When I ream my GP holes I always do it by hand only so that you won't mess up the threads or cut any metal.

Those are my tips but not necessarily the best tips...

[Bruce Appel]

What do you use to ream the holes with? A standard reamer? What size? Drill bit??

[Brian Carlton]

I have never used the glow plug reamer when replacing glow plugs.

It's probably the "proper" way to go, but, I don't believe it is necessary on most 617 engines unless they have been driven too conservatively and are packed with carbon.

If the new plug will install and not interfere with any carbon build up, you probably can get away without the reamer.

[Fisherman]

I've used a drill bit that is just slightly larger than the glow plug tip 1/4 inch I think. But for the number 5 hole you will never get in the hole due to teh oil filter housing so for that one I used a 1/4 inch tap with fine threads.

Used gently neitehr one of these will dameage the hole but they will ct the carbon.
Make sure to turn over the engine after reaming to eject the carbon knocked loose.

[Bruce Appel]

Thanks for all the replies. I just got home from work, will sleep a few hours and have a go at it.

[Bruce Appel]

Its done. Except for being a pia to reach, not too dificult.Took me, a rank newbie 2 hours.Things I would recomend for anyone else doing this, get both a 12 and 8mm racheting box end wrench. I had a 12, but no 8, and the 8 would have sped the whole process up, especialy for the bugger behind the oil filter. Get extra nuts for the wire connection, they are very easy to drop and loose. I had no trouble getting the old ones out. I don't know if it helped, but I had been spraying them with penetrating oil several times over the last 3-4 days. As an aside, they had basically no carbon build up. I didn't ream anything, as there was really nothing to ream. The old plugs had erroded tips, but were really clean. I have put about 13,000 miles on this car since I bought it, running biodiesel the whole time. B100 when warm, running B50 through the winter. I was amazed at how clean they were for a motor with 223,000 miles on it.
Again, thanks for the help.

[whunter]

If you need to replace them, better do it before winter gets here.