Glow Plug blows out of engine block

mjwilson

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 17, 2005
Location
Oakdale, CA
TDI
2015 Passat SE (bought back 11/28/2016)..adieu
Literally!

A few days ago, an MIL light came on and I had it checked out by the dealer. Code comes back as a failed glow plug and all the glow plugs seemed to have erratic readings. They recommended replacing all four and I agreed (all under warranty) however they didn't have any in stock so I'd have to wait a couple days. They gave me my car back and proceeded on home. About a half-mile from the dealership a loud "shotgun" sound went off and the engine started to badly stumble. I shut it down immediately, openned the hood but couldn't see anything obvious. Only after removing the engine cover did I discover that the #2 glow plug was completely missing and some remnants of it were scattered about the engine bay.

Needless to say, I wasn't going home anytime soon! I called the dealership and they dispatched a mechanic immediately. Unfortunately, the threaded portion of the glow plug was still in the block so he couldn't install a new one.

The car was towed back to the dealership where it has been the last few days. I called Fri. and the service advisor said they were pulling the cylinder head to make sure none of the glow plug shrapnel ended up in the compression chamber. Seems reasonable to me but I'm not thrilled to have a relatively low-milage (~30,750 mi) engine go through such radical maintenance. They anticipate my car will be done Tue. or Wed.. Anything I should keep an eye on after I get it back? Has this ever happened to anyone else?

Wish I could post pict.'s but didn't have a camera handy before they started working on it.

Mike
 

Zero10

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 16, 2004
Location
Calgary, AB
TDI
05 Golf TDI PD, Tiptronic
A glow plug crumbling on a PD?.... Interesting.
Sounds like they tinkered with the glow plugs when they checked it out.
Good that they are pulling the head to check it out (if you trust them to do the work right). Make sure any single-use bolts are replaced and make sure they don't mess up the timing belt.
 

mrchill

TDIClub Enthusiast, Super Secret Diesel Ninja Vend
Joined
Sep 16, 2003
Location
MASS! home of THE WORLD SERIES CHAMPION RED SOX! x
TDI
96 B4v red \ 98 Mk3 green\98 Mk3 Jetta black\ 99 Mk4 Jetta green x2\ 99 Mk4 Golf silver x2\ 99 Mk4 Jetta black\ 97 B4 sedan green\04 JSW gold\03 JSW silver
OOH that glowplug MUST have been bad if the engine rejected it!:eek: Sorry, I couldnt help myself. I am glad it was following a service. This way, no contest, you are covered.
 

mjwilson

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 17, 2005
Location
Oakdale, CA
TDI
2015 Passat SE (bought back 11/28/2016)..adieu
Update

Received a call from the service advisor today. They're not only pulling off the cylinder head, they're going to replace it. The service advisor didn't say why it needed replacing and informed me that my car is now anticipating being complete by Fri...a week and a half since the glow plug went kablewie!

Though I'm grateful that all of this intensive work is covered under warranty, I no longer have the confidence that everything will be to "factory" level. I'm now wondering what kinds of troubles await me in the miles ahead. Ugh!

Keep y'all posted...

Mike
 

chromeBuddha

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 30, 2006
Location
Arlington, TX - DFW metroplex
TDI
2002 Golf TDI manual
The dealer may be CTA (covering...) about the GP. They probably stressed one looking at it. They are probably worried about being able to remove the remains of the one that blew without damaging the threads. I don't think they could get you to buy into a Helicoil insert into the thread bore while under warranty.

Let's hope they can read the manual and replace the bolts, follow the torque pattern and figures.
 

Uncle_Dave

Veteran Member
Joined
May 1, 2003
Location
Boston MA
TDI
Jetta TDI Wagon A4 Silver
Doug Huffman said:
Without specialized equipment and knowledge, GP measurement will always be erratic (not repeatable, too precise, inaccurate). It's good that your VW is still under warranty. Please keep us appraised of the events.
Just for fun. I have been having problems with my Glow Plugs. I was suspecting a bad connection, but then an Ohm meter showed me that one was Open. Put my 12 Volt battery charger on each of the Glow Plugs. They all read 10 Amps, well three of them did anyway. One read 0 Amps. I had used my Digital meter, however the resistance is so low it is hard to get a good reading. The heavy current while on the charger gives what I would call a good reading. They all read pretty much the same. With 104 K miles it is about time.

Uncle_Dave
 

mjwilson

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 17, 2005
Location
Oakdale, CA
TDI
2015 Passat SE (bought back 11/28/2016)..adieu
Update 2

Picked my car today. Being Saturday, there were not many tech.'s around and the one (or many) who worked on my car was off today. I really want to have a good conversation with him/her to see if there is something I should be watching and/or aware of as a result of the new cylinder head install. I aksed a service advisor but he didn't seem to know much about all what was done to my car. (The service advisor I had been working with was also off today.)

I drove home (about 40 mi.) and the car ran well with smoothness and plenty of power. Also, no unusual noises, smells, vibes, etc.. All seems as good as new. The only thing I noticed that is incorrect is the oil fill "cup". It looks like they installed the wrong "lower profile" one because now the boot doesn't come up to the hole in the plastic engine cover. Minor thing (I think). I'll ask them to put the right one in next time I'm in for an oil change or something else. See pict. below:







Now I could use some sage advice from the community:
1. Should I go through the engine "break-in" procedure since I have a new cylinder head?
2. I'm planning a long trip in Nov. (round trip ~1500 mi.). Am I good to go or would you advise against it with my car?
3. Anything you think I should insist that the dealer provide at this point?

I deeply appreciate all of you!

Mike
 
Last edited:

Zero10

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 16, 2004
Location
Calgary, AB
TDI
05 Golf TDI PD, Tiptronic
No break-in for a new head. The biggest things on break-in are the rings, which were not changed.
If you are not having any issues to this point I would go ahead with the long trip.
I would have the dealership fix the oil filler cap problem and you should be good to go.
 

DrewD

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 23, 2004
I would do your own glow plug replacements in the future. Ceramic glowplugs are very fragile and if they are dropped from a hight of even 1 inch, they can shatter inside the engine causing significant damage.
 

mjwilson

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 17, 2005
Location
Oakdale, CA
TDI
2015 Passat SE (bought back 11/28/2016)..adieu
Final update/recommendation

I've now had my car back a week and have driven over 400 mi. w/o issues. Car continues to run great with smoothness and power; may it be so for a long time.

I must commend Classic VW for their attentiveness, expertise, and skill in handling my situation. I really recommend them to any of our San Diego community members. If you happen to need service from them, ask for Matt and Scott to be the primary technicians. I was really impressed with their knowledge and experience on TDI's. I think you'll also find Eric Axford (Service Manager) likewise and you'll appreciate his attentiveness to your needs.

Chalk one up for a good dealer experience!

Diesel on,
Mike

BTW: the oil fill neck mentioned in my previous post was corrected. Took Classic all of a minute to fix when I showed it to them!
 

jayp111

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 3, 2005
Location
Undisclosed location
TDI
n/a
pastormike said:
I've now had my car back a week and have driven over 400 mi. w/o issues. Car continues to run great with smoothness and power; may it be so for a long time.

I must commend Classic VW for their attentiveness, expertise, and skill in handling my situation. I really recommend them to any of our San Diego community members. If you happen to need service from them, ask for Matt and Scott to be the primary technicians. I was really impressed with their knowledge and experience on TDI's. I think you'll also find Eric Axford (Service Manager) likewise and you'll appreciate his attentiveness to your needs.

Chalk one up for a good dealer experience!

Diesel on,
Mike

BTW: the oil fill neck mentioned in my previous post was corrected. Took Classic all of a minute to fix when I showed it to them!
Congrats!

I'm curious about one thing. Did they pull and re-install any of the GP's on the initial visit?

I ask b/c as I understand it the PD GP's are ceramic and there are explicit warnings that they are NOT to be re-installed and re-used after you pull them.
 

PDJetta

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Nov 6, 2003
Location
Northern Virginia
TDI
'04 Jetta GLS TDI Pumpe Duce Platinum Grey w/ Leather
I hope its OK to pull the GPs out and use them again in the PD. Before I knew about the ceramic GPs, the dealer replaced ALL FOUR in my early '04 PD at about 9,000 miles under warranty, because one failed. This was early in 2004 that this was done. A month or so later I removed one of the GPs to read the voltage off of it to verify it was different than the older ones (7 volts fopr the PDs) and re-installed it. So far, no problems at 60,000 miles. I guess if the GP has not disenegrated by now, it wont.

BTW, the dealer replacing those four GPs was the dealer from hell story. It took them 4 tries and 45 days to get it done right! Originally, they replaced the GP that failed with one for an ALH motor, and it quickly failed(they look the same). Then they were back ordered, then I was told to come in and they could not find them:rolleyes: .

--Nate
 

mjwilson

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 17, 2005
Location
Oakdale, CA
TDI
2015 Passat SE (bought back 11/28/2016)..adieu
justpaddlek1 said:
Congrats!

I'm curious about one thing. Did they pull and re-install any of the GP's on the initial visit?

I ask b/c as I understand it the PD GP's are ceramic and there are explicit warnings that they are NOT to be re-installed and re-used after you pull them.
I'm not certain if they pulled the suspect plug and then re-installed it. I was told that the #4 plug was bad but it was the #2 plug that blew to bits.

I did notice on my receipt they replaced all four when they put the new head assy. on.

It certainly seems like the glow plugs for our PD's aren't as robust as they could be.

Because of my experience, if I get an MIL and I suspect its a glow plug, I'm going to make sure Classic VW has a replacement in stock before I go there. I don't want them just to find a bad glow plug and then not replace it because of no stock and then give me my car back. I'm now hypersensitive about these things!
 

PDJetta

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Nov 6, 2003
Location
Northern Virginia
TDI
'04 Jetta GLS TDI Pumpe Duce Platinum Grey w/ Leather
I just saw tdiparts.com has a listing for the PD BEW GPs for $28 (Bosch brand). I recall the dealer a couple of years ago saying they were $80 each!

--Nate
 

TornadoRed

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 3, 2003
Location
West Des Moines (formerly St Paul)
TDI
2003 Golf GLS 5-spd, indigo blue; 2003 Jetta TDI wagon, silver; 2003 Jetta TDI wagon, indigo blue; 2003 Golf GL 5-spd, red (retired); 2003 Jetta TDI wagon, Candy White (sold)
pastormike said:
I must commend Classic VW for their attentiveness, expertise, and skill in handling my situation. I really recommend them to any of our San Diego community members. If you happen to need service from them, ask for Matt and Scott to be the primary technicians. I was really impressed with their knowledge and experience on TDI's. I think you'll also find Eric Axford (Service Manager) likewise and you'll appreciate his attentiveness to your needs.

Chalk one up for a good dealer experience!
Allen Rawson is another good service advisor at Classic. When I had the series of MAF sensor problems back in early 2004, he was the guy I dealt with. He still knows my Golf TDI... only a couple of t-red ones in the county.
 
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