How much $$$ to change glow plugs and harness 2002 Jetta?

dieseljunkie

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 29, 2006
Location
New England USA
TDI
96 Passat TDI wagon
Just want to know ball park $$ parts and labor to change out 4 glow plugs with new and a new harness on a 2002 Jetta.

1. Dealer
2. Guru

Thanks!
 

kenmaira

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 6, 2011
Location
Austin
TDI
Golf Mk4 2001 1.9 ALH
If everything is at it was, you're better off doing it yourself, the 02 has the 4 wire harness, which (if they cut off the plug) is gonna be annoying to fix, if not it's a plug and play deal. For glow plugs you're probably better off going to a local Auto parts store, they generally carry em for around 15 dollars a piece, the glow plug harness usually costs around 65$

Dealer, I would assume they charge around 200$ total, and as for guru I have no idea.

Good luck!

-Dave
 

1854sailor

Resident Curmudgeon
Joined
Aug 10, 2004
Location
Westerly, RI
TDI
2015 Golf SE SportWagen, 2015 Golf SE Hatch Back.
Glow plugs are what I was Googling when I discovered these forums. Dealer wanted $500 to do the job on the Golf, and that was 2004. Found the how-to here, and did it myself for around $135.00.
 

ymz

Top Post Dawg
Joined
May 12, 2003
Location
Between Toronto & Montreal
TDI
2003 Jetta TDI Wagon, 2003 Jetta TDI Wagon
We've heard of dealerships charging as much as $800 for this...

4 Bosch / Beru ALH glow plugs from one of the online suppliers here: ~$45 - $50
4-wire ALH harness: ~$60 - $65

Should take between less than an hour (if you splice the harness) to about 90 - 120 minutes (if you run the wire back to the connector near the brake booster)... unless one of the glow plugs breaks or has stripped threads...

Yuri
 
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Curious Chris

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jun 11, 2001
Location
Pineview GA
TDI
Jetta Wagon 2003 RIP Rockford IL
On my 2002 Golf (should be the same as your Jetta) I installed the glow plug harness and then use cable cover over the 4 wires and routed it over to the plug in under the curved plastic cover by the master cylinder. The original wire is wrapped up with a number of other wires and I have seen a post where a member unwrapped the whole works but my method was fast and it worked.

Harness: http://www.idparts.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=606
glow plugs http://www.idparts.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=1077
 

Dodoma

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 30, 2004
TDI
2002 Jetta White
I have done this job myself on my 2002 jetta TDI automatic. The cost came as follows: 4 Bosch glow plugs thru ebay $52, harness about same. If you were near me, I could have done for $50 for labor (my cost for tea, lunch, cleaning, rags, etc.) if you provide the glow plugs and harness and left the car for two days. But to be honest, replacing the harness is an easy work so I would encourage you to do yourself if you have time. Remove the battery and battery plate, remove air box, open the harness plastic cover. Starting from the glow plug side, carefully unwind the plastic insulation (tape). Use heat gun to "slightly melt" the insulation glue and unwrap it over a pencil. Once you reach the harness connection on the firewall, remove the old one and replace with the new one. Have harness wires (four) follow the curvatures of the other wires in the bundle. After that reuse the insulation that you unwound. The work is time consuming though but worth doing rather that cutting here and there that should not take more that 20 minutes but will not look good or professional. I was getting the check engine lite with the code for faulty glow plug. Only after replacing both my problem got solved.

One think to need in mind: Not to ruin the threads of glow plugs. Also be carful to remove the glow plugs if they have never been removed before. So use WD-40 so that it seems inside. Use right size socket and keep its axis in line with the axis of glow plug. Once the glow plugs are out, replace by hand tightining till it reaches the bottom of threads. That tighted it a little more.
 
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msiert

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 13, 2011
Location
Omaha NE
TDI
2001 VW New Beetle 2006.5 Jetta Edition
Just as easy as changing out spark plugs in an older car.

Don't even need to check which one is bad. Just take them all out and replace the ones that has black soot on them the good ones will have clean tips.

Just got done replacing a bad one last weeK......I feel theres no need to replace all of them if only one or two are bad.
 
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davebugs

Vendor
Joined
Sep 15, 2003
Location
Pittsburgh suburb
TDI
2001 Golf TDI Automatic, MKIV rear axle bushing install tools
Easy job. Really.

I'd buy from any of the vendors here. My car took BERU and I just replaced the harness the second time. I put doelectric grease on the harness and glow plugs. I bought special high temp anti-seize for them too.

Got the heat shrink gizmo's to put over the connections.
 

2002MK4

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 24, 2011
Location
Scarborough
TDI
2002, 2003 Jetta TDI
I just did this earlier [save the gp harness]. The plugs are a cheap [if aftermarket shop] and easy [just don't strip them] job you can do in 20 min.
 
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