Hey guys,
Here's my story,
I bought an 06 CRD a few years ago. I was aware that the #3 glow plug had been damaged by a Tech trying to swap out ceramic plugs with steel. The hex head had snapped off and the remains were flush in the cylinder head. The previous owner decided to leave it as is, hard starts, but ran it for a few years like that. I too ran it for a couple years like that, until...
Last week during normal driving, bang, it seemed to blow out the 'guts' of the glow plug, leaving a 'hole' in the combustion chamber.
So tear down.
First process was a pretty deep teardown of the engine bay to get enough clearance for extraction. (Annoying because a year ago I did the rockers)
The extractor (Irwin Master Kit) worked quite well. I also tried a straight 'slot' style extractor which worked for this case (empty glow plug sleeve) but would require much more drilling if it was a bolt, than a typical conical extractor.
Next the sleeve was completely stuck in the head, as if it was press fit. I had been soaking it with penetrating fluid for days but could get enough purchase to pull on it safely so I had to get creative and make a custom slide hammer type puller.
1/2" steel tube stock can be perfectly tapped for M10x1 (glow plug threads) and then a hex coupler for some minor weight to provide some impact motion.
a few hours of hammers and slowing turning the tube's thread in to keep pulling the glow plug sleeve got it out.
I also had some air blowing into the cylinder to try keeping any debris from falling into the chamber.
A strange issue, but glad to remove it without damage to the head.
A question for the masses though:
How likely is it that there's debris in the combustion chamber? The glow plug seems to be an original ceramic one, but there's clearly nothing left of it. The guts blew clean out of it and the motor ran for a few minutes in that state, obviously not well, but no grinding, metal colliding sounds.
The head has no leaks or compression issues, so I'd really prefer to not break the seal by pulling the head.
Am I foolish to not just pull the head at this point? Any ways I can have more certainty about the safety of cylinder #3?
