stuck glow plug

I have a glow plug that will not budge. Is their a special tool or solvent to use to break it free. I don't want to bust it in half tying to get it out.

Get the engine hot and use some PB blaster rust penetrant. Do this a few times over a few days. Then get the engine hot and try to loosen it. If it still won't budge repeat. Also you might want to use a 1/4" ratchet when you try to remove so you don't put to much torque on it and break it.

Good luck and take your time

one that I've found is that the impact wrench will do wonders with siezed threaded things.

Takes a VERY light touch though. Just want to rattle the fastener, not twist it off.
Use it all the time for bleeder screws and GM fuel filters (those dumb ones with the tube nuts on both ends).

Torque removal limit is 25 ft-lb. Any more than that and you risk snapping the plug off. If that happens you're in for a world of fun.

Set your torque wrench to 25 and try to loosen the plug. If the wrench clicks, STOP. Apply heat, penetrating oil ( I like Kroil) and give it time. Try again, if it clicks - stop and repeat the above. A warm engine can help as the holes in the head expand a bit when warm.

(hopefully you'll get it out successfully.....) and... once you get it out, use a thread chaser tool (gently) to clean up the threads before reinstalling / installing a new GP.

And...on re-install, some never-seize on the threads is a good practice. A wee bit goes a long way...no sense putting on enough the engine succeeds in using it for fuel.
cheers,
Douglas

Hyde7278 said:

Get the engine hot and use some PB blaster rust penetrant. Do this a few times over a few days. Then get the engine hot and try to loosen it. If it still won't budge repeat. Also you might want to use a 1/4" ratchet when you try to remove so you don't put to much torque on it and break it.

Good luck and take your time

Click to expand...

Good advice...take your time give the penetrating oil time to work.
Heating and cooling seems to help draw the oil in.
Also clean away any grease/dirt from the base of the gp with brake clean and compressed air first so the penetrating oil can easily get to the threads.

....By the way my favorite penetrating oil by far is "Moovit", don't know if you guys in the US can get this stuff but it works wonders....given a few days!
http://www.lloydslaboratories.com/MOOVIT-350-g-14-oz-Aerosol.html

Mark showed me when he took out my plugs-I think he used a 3/8" breaker bar w/ a long extension-once it breaks free-turn it out a little,then turn it back in a little,then repeat a little more each time as you work it out(breaker bar is easier as you don't have to flip a lever to reverse,like on a ratchet). My threads had some carbon built up,so that was cleaned out and new plugs installed w/ anti-seize.

I use a 1/4 inch drive deep six sided socket adapted to 3/8 drive with an extension and 3/8 breaker bar. Pleny of penetrant and once free relube and tighten, loosen cycles. Easy does it...

vondiesel said:

Is their a special tool or solvent to use to break it free. I don't want to bust it in half tying to get it out.

Click to expand...

The "special tool" is a torque wrench set to the failure moment specification of your glow plug as published by Beru. In my case it was 35 Nm or 25.8 lbf.ft.

Of course in my new 2013 Jetta, they were all much looser than the 35 Nm failure moment.

Apply some Beru Glow Plug Grease to the threads and shaft and tighten to the specified torque (15 Nm or 132 lbf.in. in my case). The Beru Glow Plug Grease does not look anything like the anti-seize compounds (zinc or copper) that I also have.

I have to get some of that Kroil that I've heard so much about, for my shop. I have PB Blaster...three days of soaking did not help and it wasn't even a rusted bolt in steel...sometimes a steel bolt in aluminum is worse.

Oh dear! Good luck with yours!! This is why we ended up getting rid of the 2010 Golf wagon. Stuck glow plug, dealership (good one) tried everything as above over a week--heating, cooling off, penetrating oils, gentle pressure both ways etc. Finally had to remove cylinder and have plug drilled and chased out by a machine shop. Carefully reinstalled new glow plug, reassembled engine. Two weeks later glow plug blew out while climbing a steep grade at speed on a 6 lane highways with transports right behind. Had to swerve across three lanes to get off highway. Threads had failed, engine was again disassembled a bit and new OEM parts used. Fortunately, all under warranty (just) including rental car. We were on vacation far from home, (and fortunately very very close to another excellent dealership) and needed to get around for a few days--it was a three hour bus ride out of province to pick up the car a week later. From analysis, it appears that it was a Mexico Mistake, and that there was something wrong with the initial installation of the first glow plug--it likely wouldn't have come out when brand new without drilling it out, because it was over-torqued or mis-threaded. Sort of lost hope for that vehicle after that--what else was lurking? Note that I still have my 03 ALH Jetta wagon (built in Germany) with about 300,000 on it. You'll have to break rigor mortis to get the steering wheel out of my cold, dead hands on that one.

what do you mean "mexico mistake"?

DPM said:

what do you mean "mexico mistake"?

Click to expand...

many here say cars built in mexico are of inferior build quality than those assembled in Germany.

maxmoo said:

many here say cars built in mexico are of inferior build quality than those assembled in Germany.

Click to expand...

Who told you that, the dealer that ruined your car trying to get a glowplug out?

Looks they successfully put the blame on someone else.

Edit, sorry, I now see it wasn't you that had the glowplug problem, it was Jim B. Still, VW dealers blaming their own bad work on the build quality of the cars that they sell....well, you get the idea.

+1 on heat and kroil. I buy kroil by the gallon for my farm shop. Mail order it from Kano labs. I would be tempted to run my torque wrench at 20 to,start but these guys have more experience with vw glow plugs.

I like the idea of using 1/4" drive if skipping torque wrench, just to have a better feel and avoid breaking.

Jim B, that was fortunate on your newer glow plug. Are you seaside in PEI.? Possible cause of stuck unit, but unlikely at that age.


Sent from my iSomething using Tapatalk
Please forgive typos and commas

cheoah said:

+1 on heat and kroil. I buy kroil by the gallon for my farm shop. Mail order it from Kano labs. I would be tempted to run my torque wrench at 20 to,start but these guys have more experience with vw glow plugs.

I like the idea of using 1/4" drive if skipping torque wrench, just to have a better feel and avoid breaking.

Jim B, that was fortunate on your newer glow plug. Are you seaside in PEI.? Possible cause of stuck unit, but unlikely at that age.


Sent from my iSomething using Tapatalk
Please forgive typos and commas

Click to expand...

I agree. You bust one your screwed as far as the head is concerned, I always use anti seize. Good Beru's or Bosch's fit best. They need removed or changed regularly to keep the threads from seizing up. The Champion glow plugs are cheap, but they have fitment problems. I wouldn't recommend the cheaper glow plugs their thread pitches are off. Waiting with a glow plug DTC and 50,000 miles before changing them doesn't help. I buy used VW's and the things people don't maintain. You can drill out the center and vacuum out the pieces through the injector hole, you have to be careful.

Stuck Broken GP

If it breaks, I can probably remove it for you without removing the head. It will take a trip to my place though. Quality tooling is expensive, but it works.

vwdieseling said:

You bust one your screwed as far as the head is concerned,

Click to expand...

ever heard of the magic of heli-coils? If nothing else, a 1/4" NPT pipe plug drilled and threaded IIRC M10x1.0

Line it up good enough to get the taper seat close, and JB weld it in, pull the plug out 3 or 4 hours later so that the epoxy just makes a seal and not a bond to the GP.

[486] said:

ever heard of the magic of heli-coils? If nothing else, a 1/4" NPT pipe plug drilled and threaded IIRC M10x1.0

Line it up good enough to get the taper seat close, and JB weld it in, pull the plug out 3 or 4 hours later so that the epoxy just makes a seal and not a bond to the GP.

Click to expand...

For spark plugs yes. Sounds like a viable fallback, but have to admit, nobody wants a JB Welded glow plug... Particularly if it has a rough idle or so,e other nasty vibration. For that age I'd put money on kroil and an impact type action turned down. Or that plus heat.

That would not stop me from trying the JB/heli program though, if I mucked up some threads. Your method also includes a helicoil --with JB weld to fill the cracks-- it sound like, and could be pretty sturdy. To 500 degrees or so,I guess. Do you apply any compound on the threads before installation, after curing? Will file that away.


Sent from my iSomething using Tapatalk
Please forgive typos and commas

cheoah said:

For spark plugs yes. Sounds like a viable fallback, but have to admit, nobody wants a JB Welded glow plug... Particularly if it has a rough idle or so,e other nasty vibration. For that age I'd put money on kroil and an impact type action turned down. Or that plus heat.

That would not stop me from trying the JB/heli program though, if I mucked up some threads. Your method also includes a helicoil --with JB weld to fill the cracks-- it sound like, and could be pretty sturdy. To 500 degrees or so,I guess. Do you apply any compound on the threads before installation, after curing? Will file that away.

Click to expand...

Rough idle wouldn't be what I'd be worried about, at idle the fueling and cylinder pressures are low. Under boost and heavy fueling the cylinder pressures are much higher.
Point about the **** I said is that anything can be fixed in a million ways. Friend of my grandpa would wrap wire on the threads of the stripped out spark plug on his mower. It popped out every once in a while, but then he'd just go up a wire gauge.

His car was under warranty though, so there's no real reason to do anything to it.

[486] said:

ever heard of the magic of heli-coils? If nothing else, a 1/4" NPT pipe plug drilled and threaded IIRC M10x1.0

Line it up good enough to get the taper seat close, and JB weld it in, pull the plug out 3 or 4 hours later so that the epoxy just makes a seal and not a bond to the GP.

Click to expand...

With the compression of a diesel I wouldn't recommend it. Drilling them out is a roll of the dice as far as the threads in the head not getting damaged. Using a hand drill and a 3/32" bit and punching the center before drilling works. But you have to stay dead center. Once the center is drilled out they usually will turn out. One isn't bad but two of them gets touchy. If you can use a penetrating oil or spray and heat I would go with that.

cheoah said:

For spark plugs yes. Sounds like a viable fallback, but have to admit, nobody wants a JB Welded glow plug... Particularly if it has a rough idle or so,e other nasty vibration. For that age I'd put money on kroil and an impact type action turned down. Or that plus heat.

That would not stop me from trying the JB/heli program though, if I mucked up some threads. Your method also includes a helicoil --with JB weld to fill the cracks-- it sound like, and could be pretty sturdy. To 500 degrees or so,I guess. Do you apply any compound on the threads before installation, after curing? Will file that away.




Sent from my iSomething using Tapatalk
Please forgive typos and commas

Click to expand...

A diesel with 480 PSI compression will blow them strait out. Most gasser's run half that. I don't know how many thread repair jobs on diesel that didn't mess up as far as the glow plugs. I never have been a fan of JB Weld and trust it about as far I could fling the tubes to the moon

A solid thread insert is the only reliable repair when the threads in the head get really buggered up. Use a helicoill at your own risk for sure.

vwdieseling said:

With the compression of a diesel I wouldn't recommend it. Drilling them out is a roll of the dice as far as the threads in the head not getting damaged. Using a hand drill and a 3/32" bit and punching the center before drilling works. But you have to stay dead center. Once the center is drilled out they usually will turn out. One isn't bad but two of them gets touchy. If you can use a penetrating oil or spray and heat I would go with that.

Click to expand...

a 3/32 bit wouldn't take anything out but the mica and nichrome wire, start at 3/16 and then punch a 5/16" through it to just before the depth of the taper, put in a grade 8 bolt shank and grab on the remainder that's sticking up with a vise grip

People seem to miss the "put a pipe plug in there and tap through that" bit on my earlier jb weld comment. the epoxy is just to form the taper seat, as it will not put the GP in there quite as straight as would be proper.

[486] said:

a 3/32 bit wouldn't take anything out but the mica and nichrome wire, start at 3/16 and then punch a 5/16" through it to just before the depth of the taper, put in a grade 8 bolt shank and grab on the remainder that's sticking up with a vise grip

People seem to miss the "put a pipe plug in there and tap through that" bit on my earlier jb weld comment. the epoxy is just to form the taper seat, as it will not put the GP in there quite as straight as would be proper.

Click to expand...

Never a JB Weld fan, that Permatec's permanent thread repair stuff is garbage too. My father has a machine shop so I always grew up looking at a good metal or alloy repair having to consist of metal. I've used the epoxy's and never had any success. I have aluminum repair rods for aluminum.

Check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=RCrixbXz4rc

I repaired a 1.6 VW diesel head with these. The intake manifold bolt holes had the bolts sheared off in them. I couldn't easy out them, so I drilled them out and used the rods in the video to fill the holes and drilled and tapped.

I've got a bundle of the HTS 2000 rods, they are great.

^^^ that is very cool! Just for aluminum, eh?


Sent from my iSomething using Tapatalk
Please forgive typos and commas

vwdieseling said:

I have aluminum repair rods for aluminum.

Click to expand...

I wonder what alloy those rods are and if he used a propane or butane torch.

And I wonder what series of aluminum you can bond with it?

Good for a quick fit.

cheoah said:

^^^ that is very cool! Just for aluminum, ehy

Sent from my iSomething using Tapatalk
Please forgive typos and commas

Click to expand...

They work.

993er said:

I wonder what alloy those rods are and if he used a propane or butane torch.

And I wonder what series of aluminum you can bond with it?

Good for a quick fit.

Click to expand...

All aluminum densities as far as I know. Hand held propane torch is hot enough. The rods according to manufacturer are comprised of a compound that causes the molecules in aluminum parts to bond.

The video explains.