Broken Glow Plug!!!

Glend · **Posted:** Thu Feb 20, 2014 12:00 am

Rambo where are you located?

If your going to try and suck the tip out then you will need both the injector out and the glow plug hole open to provide a way for air to get in, otherwise your just creating a vacuum inside the chamber. Odds are you will create a swirl of some kind push the tip against the cylinder wall. If you can find a fibreoptic type thin borescope it should be possible to at least locate the tip. If it can be positioned right a coat hanger type wire with a sticky pad on the end might be able to get it through the injector hole. You'll need the skills of a mico-surgeon. Good luck.

rambo9000 · **Joined:** Mon Feb 17, 2014 4:23 pm **Posts:** 10

SUCCESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1. Removed the glow plug shaft (ceramic tip stuck in the head).
2. Removed the belt, fan, shroud, alternator, injector and battery.
3. Rotated the #1 cylinder to #1 TDC.
4. Back filled the #1 glow plug hole and cylinder with BG 44K fuel system treatment (let sit overnight).
3. Tapped the glow plug tip thru onto the piston top (with piston at TDC).
4. Applied vacuum to injector hole and air pressure to glow plug hole (I had to make special vacuum fitting that would bottom at the base of the injector housing where the copper seal sits and used a shop air vacuum gun).

The total process took about 3 hours. I was surprised how the tip kept falling right under the injector hole when I would blow compressed air in the glow plug hole and disturbed it. I took a few tries but it shot right out after a few minutes! I only attempted this on the #1 cylinder which looks like the easiest by far. Not sure how you can tap the plug out or work the air pressure in the glow plug hole if this happens on #2/3 or 4.

I will order new seals for the injector and a replacement 7V glow plug form idparts.com
5069135AB - Injector Seals ($9)
5142577AA - 7v Glow Plug ($25)

I HOPE THIS HELPS SOMEONE ELSE DOWN THE LINE AND SAVE YOU $$$$

papaindigo · **Posted:** Fri Feb 21, 2014 5:32 pm

Well hang you with horse shoes, congratulations. I would recommend you "fit" that piece to the remainder in the metal shaft to make sure you got it all especially if you cannot slide a bore scope into the injector hole. Alternatively perhaps someone knows or can measure the length of the ceramic tip. From your description of all of the events I suspect you did get it all but best be sure.

thermorex · **Posted:** Fri Feb 21, 2014 6:24 pm

Good job, congrats! You should frame that broken glow tip, lol, show your kids the skills their dad has.

geordi · **Posted:** Fri Feb 21, 2014 6:52 pm

You deserve to buy a SACK of lottery tickets for that one, you have some amazing good luck there. Congratulations, I am supremely impressed.

flman · **Posted:** Fri Feb 21, 2014 6:56 pm

rambo9000 wrote:

I was surprised how the tip kept falling right under the injector hole when I would blow compressed air in the glow plug hole and disturbed it. I took a few tries but it shot right out after a few minutes! I only attempted this on the #1 cylinder which looks like the easiest by far. Not sure how you can tap the plug out or work the air pressure in the glow plug hole if this happens on #2/3 or 4.

I HOPE THIS HELPS SOMEONE ELSE DOWN THE LINE AND SAVE YOU $$$$

Congrats, but it all makes sense since the piston has a hollow in the center, that is why it went there.

weeks101 · **Joined:** Mon Jul 30, 2012 3:29 pm **Posts:** 747

Well done!

You should share all the details on your glow plug tip extractor.

jeepdan · **Posted:** Fri Feb 21, 2014 7:22 pm

All right! :BANANA:

Better make this a sticky for the future.
Maybe some other unlucky person will have the same stroke of good luck in the end.

jsrmonster · **Posted:** Fri Feb 21, 2014 10:07 pm

I have done this on a tdi before with broken tip from drilling out sheared off gp. You could see the small tip with bore scope in piston bowl. put short blasts of high pressure shop air in gp hole, and used shop vac with a few reducers to vinyl tubing in injector hole. the piece surfed right up the vacuum hose. Took about 30min to get everything setup, and 2 seconds to retrieve tip.

Great to hear you figured it out, you're good to go!
Jeff

racertracer · **Posted:** Sat Feb 22, 2014 8:27 am

great job

GreenDieselEngineering · **Joined:** Sun Jun 07, 2009 5:10 pm **Posts:** 1111

Nice work.

The glow plug tip is roughly an inch long if broken off at the housing. The picture above seems to be only a portion of the tip and the end is missing. When looking at the tip, do the fractures on both ends look the same or is one side darker? How long has the failed plug been in the engine? In many cases, the tip gets pulverized and does not do any damage.

Auberon · **Posted:** Sat Feb 22, 2014 11:22 am

Have done it myself on other engines.
Its funny how that broken component plops its little self below that injector port.
It's just the simple physics of gas flow in that combination of limited space at TDC with compressed air and vacuum and the resultant vectors blah blah blah....Logic and patience prevail. :BANANA:

You've done the (clearly not) impossible.
Good result.