CEL came on ... P0672

MidwifeMimi · **Posted:** Tue Oct 23, 2012 3:00 pm

Hey there - first, thanks to all of you knowledgable people who share your wisdom here. My husband is out to sea a LOT, so I have the responsibility of maintaining our 2006 Liberty CRD. I am not very mechanical, so I am mostly at the mercy of the mechanic. I *think* I have found a good one at our local dealership, so I am sticking with him for now. Anyway, the reason for my post ... I did a GDE EcoTune a couple of months ago (love it - great mileage, far less exhaust smoke, no CEL on) and now the CEL is back on. I checked it and got this code - P0672. I have checked around online and that is a bad glow plug circuit in cylinder #2 (right?). Do I take this to my mechanic and just tell him to replace it and not mess with anything else? Is it safe to drive it like this? Will driving it mess it up more or damage anything else? I can't get it in until later this week.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Blessings,
Debbie

papaindigo · **Posted:** Tue Oct 23, 2012 3:51 pm

First and very important - you need to provide a hint as to your location as there are lots of members that can help and one or more may be near you.

Second and on point - the original OEM 7v glow plugs are a fairly durable ceramic but they are prone to burning out and can shed pieces that can, with a bit of bad luck, cause internal damage to the associated cylinder/piston/valves. That code is for GLOW PLUG 2 PLUG FAILURE or GLOW PLUG 2 PLUG SHORT CIRCUIT so yes your #2 glow plug is almost certainly dead. It is possible to double check this by checking the glow plug resistance but I'd be pretty positive this is a valid code. Now comes the somewhat difficult part. The original OEM glow plugs are no longer, haven't been for several years, available so no one is going to just drop in an OEM ceramic replacement for your #2 plug. There are only 2 options: 1) OEM which means 4 new 5v glow plugs with a new controller (dealer cost ca $180+) and $50 for GDE to reflash you ECU for 5v glow plugs BEFORE turning those 5v glow plugs on or 2) 7v drop in metal glow plugs (http://www.dieselglowplug.com/gx3123-di ... kkhtcoiad0) costing ca. $170 depending on Euro conversion rates and shipping costs with no change needed to your current ECU flash. Option 1 is what the dealer is going to want to do however they may force an ECU reflash on you at $100 in addition to glow plug swap labor and then you still have to pay Keith $50 to restore your GDE tune and fix it to handle 5v glow plugs. Option 2 IMHO is the best option but I strongly doubt (could be wrong) a dealer will install the European glow plugs which is why I ask where you are in hopes that a nearby member can help you out.

Yes you can drop in only 1 of the set of 4 European glow plugs to replace the bad #2 but I wouldn't recommend that. If one of the ceramics is bad best just replace them all. Not a particularly hard DIY job just a bit time consuming to get some extra "stuff" out of the way so the glow plugs can be swapped. I'd guess a couple of hrs work at most.

MidwifeMimi · **Posted:** Tue Oct 23, 2012 8:04 pm

Thank you so much, Papaindigo! I am in Elon NC, which is about halfway between Greensboro and Raleigh. The Shop Foreman at my local dealer is also my neighbor and he told me once before that if a customer brings in a part and says "put this on my car" they will do it, but there are things they cannot do on their own. I will call him and see about this glow plug business. Having said that, I am definitely open to taking it to someone else as long as it is not the 'Jeep Guys' in Greensboro. They really did a terrible job for me on more than one occasion.

MidwifeMimi · **Posted:** Tue Oct 23, 2012 9:39 pm

I ordered the 4 glow plugs. Anybody know a good mechanic in NC? Or Charleston, SC? My son lives there so I could combine a visit to him with getting my car fixed.

racertracer · **Posted:** Wed Oct 24, 2012 4:26 am

MidwifeMimi wrote:

I ordered the 4 glow plugs. Anybody know a good mechanic in NC? Or Charleston, SC? My son lives there so I could combine a visit to him with getting my car fixed.

Are the glow plugs you ordered the new updated metal ones that come with a relay? If so you will need an update to the Electronic Cumputer Unit. Green Diesel Engineering can update it for a small fee or the dealer can do it.

Glow plug removal and replacement is a delicate touchy subject.... a stuck glow plug can casue a lot of expensive repairs if it breaks or it's fused to the block.

Get in touch with Geordi, a member who has worked on many CRD's in the past, lives in Savanna and travels, not sure if he wants to deal with glow plugs though. If your glow plugs are original, which I assume they are, then they have a ceramic tip that has been known to break apart over time and sometimes pieces of it drop into the cylinder. If a failed glow plug tip drops into a cylinder, the whole head has to come off in order to retrieve it and that is big dollars.

Otherwise, if all goes well, it's just a few hours job and a firmware update to the ECU.

MidwifeMimi · **Posted:** Wed Oct 24, 2012 7:45 am

I ordered the metal 7v drop in replacement plugs. I followed the link given by Papaindigo. :-)

kissfan79 · **Posted:** Wed Oct 24, 2012 9:33 am

Hello...
I live in Raleigh and had my timing belt done by Global Performance Motor Sport and Off Road. They did a nice job and the labor was reasonable. Their phone number is 919-784-0411. Ask for Jerry. Another option is to contact Geordie here on the boards. He knows of a member in the triangle area who he says is pretty knowledgable. Perhaps he could install them for you if you get in touch with him.

Jim

papaindigo · **Posted:** Wed Oct 24, 2012 9:54 am

I know geordi has done glow plugs, I was there, but whether he is available I don't know as Elon, NC looks to be about 350 miles away from where he lives. Charleston is much closer of course

Given your tie to the local DCJ shop hopefully they will do the work or if not it looks like there are other good options in your area. FYI just in case you want an idea of what's involved see viewtopic.php?f=5&t=56696&p=630729&hilit=glow+removal#p630729 . It's really not a hard job with the right tools; just a pain getting "stuff" out of the way.

With respect to broken ceramic plug tips; a failed plug may or may not have a broken tip. If you do have a broken tip take a close look at the break; if it's sooty it's an old break but if it's shiny it's a new break. If need be break one of the plug tips and compare. A sooty break is "good" in the sense that if you are not having any engine problems and the CEL has been on for a while you can be virtually certain the piece that broke off passed thru the engine with no problem. A shiny break is "not good" as it indicates a recent break and the piece may be in the cylinder; recommended action at that point is to pull the cylinder head to find the piece (I don't know if a "bore" scope can be used to look inside the cylinder without pulling the head). For what it's worth the ceramic tips are not terribly fragile in the sense that while caution is due during removal they won't fall appart at the slighest bump.

If you do go with the local dealer be sure to make it clear, ideally in writing, that they are not to mess with your ECU programming.

MidwifeMimi · **Posted:** Thu Oct 25, 2012 8:43 pm

Thank you all so much! I am waiting on the glow plugs to come in. In the mean time, I'm going to talk to Derek, the friendly shop foreman at my local Jeep dealer and see if they will remove the glow plugs and replace them with the ones I bring in and do nothing else! I also plan to print all this out and bring it to him. He is a really nice guy and seems very agreeable. We shall see. If not, then I will check with the guy in Raleigh. Thanks again.

Debbie

CEL came on ... P0672

Who is online