Glow plugs

Has anyone tried the Diesel RX glow plugs?
They are cheaper than OEM and readily available for the ALH

This is the first I'm hearing of them. If the price is right, give them a try and see what you think.

pyropete said:

Has anyone tried the Diesel RX glow plugs?
They are cheaper than OEM and readily available for the ALH

Click to expand...

Let us know if you try em I'm in the market as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FR8qyQ6bmVc&noredirect=1


I wathced that video a while ago.

Makes me mad that the Beru plugs I put in are slower to light

good read
http://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1140782-diesel-rx-glow-plugs-good-bad-or-ugly.html

Anyone ever give em a try?

Decent price here:
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/221363329819?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

Well, I guess I'll be the guinea pig.

Will let you all know

Ricosuave said:

Anyone ever give em a try?

Decent price here:
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/221363329819?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

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I paid $45 for four OEM with free shipping.

Since I never had a problem with an OEM Product, I'll stick with OEM. Right now I'm at 340,000 km and original GP's.

To save a few dimes on non oem parts, priced at 45$, seems silly. You get what you pay for. Doing the job twice sucks. Doing the 2nd job, at -20 in January sounds even more fun. Pay me now, pay me later.

A trick, or suggestion I've heard in the past, is to also replace the glow plug harness at the same time. A little insurance. Each glow plug sucks back 15amps... IIRC. Old wires ... on a critical part to get the engine going at -20... new wires worth its weight in gold.

... and where would we be with attitudes like that.

not trying to 'save a few pennies'

they get good reviews from the truck forums, thought they'd we worth a try is all.

I would like to hear from someone who has them installed.

Andrew (tdiclub supporter) sells these too.

http://www.fixmyvw.com/diesel-rx-dr...6-2003-golf-jetta-beetle-alh-1z-ahu-set-of-4/

CourierGuy said:

To save a few dimes on non oem parts, priced at 45$, seems silly. You get what you pay for. Doing the job twice sucks. Doing the 2nd job, at -20 in January sounds even more fun. Pay me now, pay me later.

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I'm not saying these GP's are the best (first I've heard of them,) but the video shows a difference in initial response time. Again, not knowing the temps of the tips, materials, etc, but I refuse to discount something just because I can't buy it with a markup from VW.
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What happens when a designer at VW got it wrong from the start or a better product exists after the fact? Honestly, having designed parts for OEM's, you're kidding yourself if you think every design engineer selects the best designed parts from the start. Furthermore, if an OEM product is 'good' but an aftermarket product is actually better, we should immediately discount the aftermarket 'not an option?' Fact is, OEM's aren't manufacturing these GP's in-house and they're sourced from companies based on many factors. Some company's products get selected for OEM based on merit, some on cost, and some as a combination of both.
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The real questions I'd like answered are the longevity of these GP's vs Beru or Bosch and will the tips swell on these DRX plugs vs Beru or Bosch? Is this concentrated heating what causes the tip to swell and become difficult to remove?
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I just pulled a champion GP from my wife's car and the tip was noticeably fatter than the base of the heating element. Is this caused by the tip heating by itself without heating the entire element?

I've had these Diesel RX plugs in my 96 ford f250 7.3 Powerstroke (325K K/m's) for a year now and they work great. i have no complaints at all... however i havent tried replacing them. I've heard they can be a pain to remove as the tips "can" swell... but mind you that can happen to any brand... so yeah theres my 2 cents...

Will let you all know.

Shipping is $8 to me if you go through the checkout process. Buy five GP's at $6.50, you're over $30, and shipping is free.

My cost on Bosch's at my dealer, who gives me a discount, is 30$/each. Harness, 75$, cdn prices. Thought they'd be cheaper. My ECL went on a few days ago. GP cyl 2.

So after having voiced my opinion on this thread, I myself, have to make a purchase and choice!

Aarodrigez sells the harness/dieselrx plugs for a smidge over 100bucks. He's got a good Rep... And he's selling them. What's he got to say about their lifespan /reliabilty/performance?

CourierGuy said:

My cost on Bosch's at my dealer, who gives me a discount, is 30$/each. Harness, 75$, cdn prices. Thought they'd be cheaper. My ECL went on a few days ago. GP cyl 2.

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That's just alarming. I think there are a few places that will do sets of new Bosch units for under $50 shipped to the US, but I don't know if they'll ship to Canada.

CourierGuy said:

So after having voiced my opinion on this thread, I myself, have to make a purchase and choice!

Click to expand...

So... did you end up at the dealer or with a set of DieselRX's?

CourierGuy said:

My cost on Bosch's at my dealer, who gives me a discount, is 30$/each.

Click to expand...

Jesse_Boyer said:

I think there are a few places that will do sets of new Bosch units for under $50 shipped to the US

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Well, with the exchange rate... Brian Harrison sells them for $16 each... (have to add the HST, though...) http://www.roselandtech.ca/VWPartsA4.htm

Yuri

Haven't purchased yet. Ecl didn't come on all day today, and it started pretty good this am. I'm just trying to delay the fix a bit. A radiator is on deck before glow plug. If I'm in a bind, I'll yank the set out of my golf, that'll buy me more time.

My auto parts store gives me a discount too, but only carries ngk glow plugs. Not sure I want those.

But what's the general consensus on GPs to buy? Don't mean to hijack this thread... So many things are a ripoff in Canada. Price wise.

CourierGuy said:

My cost on Bosch's at my dealer, who gives me a discount, is 30$/each. Harness, 75$, cdn prices. Thought they'd be cheaper. My ECL went on a few days ago. GP cyl 2.

So after having voiced my opinion on this thread, I myself, have to make a purchase and choice!

Aarodrigez sells the harness/dieselrx plugs for a smidge over 100bucks. He's got a good Rep... And he's selling them. What's he got to say about their lifespan /reliabilty/performance?

Click to expand...

We've sold a ton of the DRX00059 glow plugs over the last 1.5 years and I've never had a single one come back for warranty or anyone tell me that they have had a problem or failed.

Just wanted to bump this thread with some info.

AARodriguezCorp was great in getting me 2 sets of these, and I just got one set installed in my 2003 wagon.

Beforehand, I hooked up a battery tester to them to make sure they glowed evenly and down the body, just like the video. All was OK.

Installation was a snap. Not sure why I waited so long to do it, because it really was that easy. A little anti-seize on the threads, and carefully threading them in and all was OK.

Now, its only around 0 here today, but it does seem as if the cold start was smoother, and less white smoke.

My old ones were just cherry on the very tip, and seemed to take a while to get that way. They also had the white ash deposits on them. They were not pproblematic to remove at all.

All in all, glad I replaced them, and will follow up with some long term and colder weather comments later on.

My 01 Beetle was hard to start when it got colder. The GP light would stay on longer but as if it wasn't helping. When checking the GP harness practically fell apart where the tips go around the gp. I checked each gp for resistance. All failed. Pulled one gp and it looked fine but absolutely no continuity. Temps got down to 30 and would not start. I am ordering from AARodriguezCorp. Cheapest around. Cheaper than Ebay. Will let you know about the DieselRX glow plugs.

Which glow plug?

I have been having trouble with one of my 04 Jettas starting in the cold. I checked with the dealer about the glow plugs and they were done in 2009, 100,000 miles ago. The one thing the dealer couldn't tell me was what glow plug was used. I see on ID parts that they sell the recommended NGK glow plugs that are in my other two TDI's. The NGK plugs have no issues starting in the sub-zero weather. The job doesn't look difficult labor wise but since the ECU needs some programming to work with the new plugs who would be able to do that for me. I wouldn't mind having the stealership replace the glow plugs except the service writer is telling me that the Bosch plugs are the correct one from my car since they said it would only be $190 installed. Since they are telling me they are the correct plugs I suspect the Bosch ones are in the car now. I have been told wrong by them before like when they tried to sell me a new $2,000 turbo for limp mode that was a broken vacuum line.

The only thing you have to watch is you done break the glow plug head at the base when your trying to get it out.
There's a torque speck that you should not exceed when removing them. Sorry, don't have the speck handy.
I sprayed my plugs twice a day hot and cold for a couple days with PB Blaster. (iIrc)
Used a torque wrench going back & forth a bit until they came out.
I had one that was tight out & in the time before.
This last time it came right out.
Maybe you can see the part number on your current ones, possibly taking one out?

11 ft lbs or 15 nm to install, 25 ft lbs to remove. Metal man has great glow plugs for a great price.

Hard starts fixed

mrowens33 said:

I have been having trouble with one of my 04 Jettas starting in the cold. I checked with the dealer about the glow plugs and they were done in 2009, 100,000 miles ago. The one thing the dealer couldn't tell me was what glow plug was used. I see on ID parts that they sell the recommended NGK glow plugs that are in my other two TDI's. The NGK plugs have no issues starting in the sub-zero weather. The job doesn't look difficult labor wise but since the ECU needs some programming to work with the new plugs who would be able to do that for me. I wouldn't mind having the stealership replace the glow plugs except the service writer is telling me that the Bosch plugs are the correct one from my car since they said it would only be $190 installed. Since they are telling me they are the correct plugs I suspect the Bosch ones are in the car now. I have been told wrong by them before like when they tried to sell me a new $2,000 turbo for limp mode that was a broken vacuum line.

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I'm happy to report that replacing the glow plugs has made a huge improvement in the starting of the car. I used the NGK 7 volt glow plugs that IDParts sells, had a stage 1.5 tune with an ECU update for the new glow plugs. This morning at 6 degrees the car started right up with a no need to push the pedal or run the glow plugs through multiple cycles. Still made some smoke but a lot less.

mrowens33 said:

I'm happy to report that replacing the glow plugs has made a huge improvement in the starting of the car. I used the NGK 7 volt glow plugs that IDParts sells, had a stage 1.5 tune with an ECU update for the new glow plugs. This morning at 6 degrees the car started right up with a no need to push the pedal or run the glow plugs through multiple cycles. Still made some smoke but a lot less.

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Excellent.
Funny, mine started the other day around 10F without long cranking or white smoke.
Today, almost 30F and it smoked white and ran rough a bit.
Waiting for warmer weather to check it.