Should Glow Plugs be replaced as preventative maintenance?

timsvulcan · **Joined:** Fri Jul 02, 2010 6:29 pm **Posts:** 14

I have had no Glow Plug issues but fear the worst when reading on here. Should they be replaced before they fail? Or should they be left alone until they fail?

boilermaker2 · **Posted:** Sat Aug 20, 2011 10:51 pm

Short answer, yes.

Longer answer, how much do you drive, how long do you drive and how do you drive? Since you have no location data on your profile, it is a little harder to give you a good answer.

Some here can attest that a broken glow plug will do disastrous damage to you vehicle. However it matters whether you livein College Station, TX versus Ankorage, AK. In the deep south, they will get little use. Where I live, I have about 1 more month, possible two, before they begin to become used.

My vehicle have 30k miles on the GP's in it and one of them is bad, so yes, I will be swapping them out within the month. However, I was hoping they would last. I was babying them with good habits but had one moment of impatience and blew it (it may have blown anyway thanks to the weather at the time and DCX's wonderful electrical habits).

If you do not drive it much in the winter or do not drive it much at all, it is a lower priority. I've decided that doing all the preventative maintenance on this vehicle would bankrupt me so I pick one at a time. Right now, it is the glow plugs. Next will be the next set of tires. Next summer it will be the TC and front pump and GDE TCM upgrade. By the time I am over that cost, it will be another 100k routine. I'm not making payments anymore but that doesn't mean I have a free ride.

Good luck. I would be interested as to how others are doing with the new SS GP's and how many miles they've put on them already.

Good question, but the answer is like working with a financial advisor, his/her first question will be "what is you risk tolerance."

B2

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Sun Aug 21, 2011 3:54 am

if it's still ceramics, it would make "me" feel better to swap them out for steel, requires a ECM update since the steel take longer to heat up - im sure you can find plenty in here regarding the steel ones tho

CATCRD · **Posted:** Sun Aug 21, 2011 12:25 pm

timsvulcan wrote:

I have had no Glow Plug issues but fear the worst when reading on here. Should they be replaced before they fail? Or should they be left alone until they fail?

If you're just going to swap them out with new ceramics, don't bother. If you're going to change them, go to steel and get the whole shebang done as time and $$ allows you to.

NJCRD · **Posted:** Mon Aug 22, 2011 1:58 pm

Well I have a CEL for a bad glow plug.
Moparonline parts has them for $126.50 per plug. The web page does not state whether they are steel or ceramic. I haven't followed this issue much, but from what I see the steel is better? I was going to have my mechanic do all 4 since it's all apart. What is the deal with a reflash? Would it make more sense to then take it to a dealer since they need to reflash? I'm a little annoyed yet again with this little pig as with just a tad over 88k on the odometer it's now something else that needs to be replaced.

boilermaker2 · **Posted:** Mon Aug 22, 2011 2:36 pm

I must have made an assumption somewhere. Unless you buy them off of Ebay, I don't think that you can even purchase a ceramic plug. I tried. The new ones are stainless and use a different voltage (as dictated by the ECM) so your ECM must also be re-flashed. You must also wiring/harness.
Sorry for not being clear,
Boilermaker2

papaindigo · **Posted:** Mon Aug 22, 2011 4:03 pm

Shop around a bit. Elsewhere on the forum there is mention made of glow plug replacements being covered under TSB 08-005-11, but much as I would like a copy I haven't seen one. If someone has please email me. The TSB references a kit (cost ca. $285 although I've also seen reference to a price as low as $175), presumably with a part #, that includes everything you need. I think that would be 4 glow plugs, a new glow plug contoller, and maybe a new wiring harness. The metal glow plugs use a lower voltage than the ceramic plugs so you ECM needs to be flashed to deliver that voltage. Here is where it gets bit tricky. If you have a stock ECM the dealer can reflash if for the new glow plugs, charge will likely be $100-150, BUT if you do the glow plug install yourself with the intent of getting a dealer reflash be sure to leave the new glow plugs disconnected from power while on the way to the dealer lest you burn them out. If you have a GDE tune then GDE will upgrade you tune for the metal glow plugs for $50 but again be sure not to power up the new glow plugs until the ECM has the proper programming.

Big hint for those of you without a GDE tune, don't throw $s to the dealer for a glow plug ECM update when those same $s can go to a GDE tune for the plugs and LOTS more.

NJCRD · **Posted:** Mon Aug 22, 2011 4:48 pm

Boiler maker, please elaborate more on this wiring harness? This is sounded more complicated by the minute.

flman · **Posted:** Mon Aug 22, 2011 6:17 pm

If any one wants to sell me their unbroken ceramics, send me a PM.

mjk · **Posted:** Mon Aug 22, 2011 8:58 pm

The part # for the metalic glow plugs & controller kit is 68090434AA. Factory Mopar Parts has the kit for $115.00
http://factorymoparparts.com/68090434aa.html

dirtmover · **Posted:** Tue Aug 23, 2011 8:40 am

My thoughts, based on experience, is that they can pop at any time i.e. the burn time/failure distribution is very wide. The vehicle was about a year old when the first one was replaced and I still have one original left after 5+ years. Even if we did have a measure of burn time I don't think it would be much help.

The ceramic usually splits and yes there is a risk of GP fragments breaking off in the cylinder and causing significant damage but there is also reports of missing ceramic and no apparent damage. On the other hand, there are also numerous reports of GP's shearing during removal resulting in an expensive extraction exercise.

The whole thing is a bit of a crap shoot. My money is on replacing ceramic with ceramic when, and only when, they fail. I have 2 spares left and once these have gone I'll replace them all with the metal upgrades. This, of course, assumes that one of the other terminal failure modes don't take it out first :cry:

Should Glow Plugs be replaced as preventative maintenance?

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