Definitely have come across enough threads in the last two weeks of reading to ask about the phenomenon of breaking off glow plugs. Seems like these should be a major concern, as the preported results seem to go from bad to game-over.

How do we prevent breaking off glow plugs? Is the update from the ceramic ones to the metal ones the cure-all?

What's the deal?

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'06 Khaki Jeep Liberty CRD
65,000 miles
2nd Gen. Fuel Head, 2nd Turbo Charger, 2nd Timing Belt, Reman HD TC, EHM, GDE Full Torque Eco-Tune, 7v Etecno GPs
Blue Samco hoses, because I want people to say, "Here's a guys who knows what he's after."
MAP sensor: clean.
As soon as the CRD reached the limit of the warranty, CEL went on.

Best bet is the metallic
they haven't been out long - but no one's broken one

caveat to that is that just changing for the sake of changing - is bad.

several have been broken on removal -

so wait until one wears out and you need to change and then carefully, carefully - switch to metallics
(it's not guaranteed that they will wear out - design life - is the life of the engine)

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2005 CRD
stuff
Skeptic quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur

Thank you for the direction, brother.

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'06 Khaki Jeep Liberty CRD
65,000 miles
2nd Gen. Fuel Head, 2nd Turbo Charger, 2nd Timing Belt, Reman HD TC, EHM, GDE Full Torque Eco-Tune, 7v Etecno GPs
Blue Samco hoses, because I want people to say, "Here's a guys who knows what he's after."
MAP sensor: clean.
As soon as the CRD reached the limit of the warranty, CEL went on.

There is a great write-up on here somewhere for changing them. I took out my filter head, alternator, and disconnected the intake elbow and quite a few hoses and such. I was pretty nervous about breaking one off in the cylinder and was as careful I could be with extraction. I didn't have any problems getting them out whole.

In playing around with them afterward (knocking them with tools and such) I haven't broken one. I almost wonder whether there were some batches that were more delicate than others. At the moment I have four of the ceramic ones sitting on my bench, two of which are supposedly good.

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2006 CRD Limited
SEGR Mod
Saikou Michi Condenser -- Deleted
Samco Hose Kit
Fumoto 102
Etecno1 GX3123 Steel 7V Glow Plugs
GDE FT Eco and Hot Tunes
JBA 4.5 UCAs
OME Lift

I honestly don't know what the "best" direction is or even if there is a best direction. If you leave them alone they may last the life of the engine and that's great but on the other hand they have been known to break in the engine without causing any harm or causing great harm so.... They can break on removal but they really are not terribly fragile (e.g. it takes a bit of a whack to break one so being careful during removal pretty much ensures no breakage) so I wouldn't worry too much about removal breakage. FYI if you remove one and it's broken it's pretty easy to tell if it's an old (dull and sooty) or new (clean and shinny) break; if old and no engine problems then the tip passed thru the system with no problems.

IMHO the "risk" in the swap is whether you do it yourself in which case, like all DIY, you assume the risk of any problems you cause or if you have a shop do the job in which case they are on the hook for any damage assuming they own up to the damage or you can prove they caused the problem. So what's a person to do.

I lean toward replace with the Etecno1 plugs. That said I have had a set sitting on my dining room table for the last 9 months or so that I have yet to install. I'll probably do the install; it's not that hard and I've helped on 2 installs so I know how to do it.

No direction I know just my wishy washy thoughts on the topic for consideration as there are pros/cons either way.

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Sold to LOST member my 05 Ltd, GDE Stg II turbo + TCM tune, SunCoast TC w. Transgo kit, Steiger window regulators, Samcos, Fumoto valve, 2nd gen filter head with Lub. Spec. bleeder, Hayden clutch & 11 blade fan, inverted spare, P-1 battery, BF Goodrich Long Trail TAs, Etecno1 glow plugs, timing belt at 50K miles/8 yrs

Not CRD related but my "new to me" 1999 Kubota 6KW genset was smokey when starting below 50f
I checked the resistance of the 3 glow plugs and they were the .9 ohms as specified But I ordered a new set from Amazon for about $15 each. The new ones also measure the specified .9 ohms but there is no longer a starting problem at 50 degrees

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Atlantic Blue 06 CRD Limited (his)
Joined by a 2000 XJ Classic (hers)

Metal GPs have their own set of issues, just Google swollen glow plug. Only time will tell how the current two metal options will hold up but it won't surprise me in the least if we start to see reports of stuck metal glow plugs in the next year or two. I still have a couple of BNIB ceramics that I will likely use before switching to metal.

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