Hey y'all,
I am new to this forum, and I am also a new owner of an 85 Ford F250 4x4 with the 6.9 IDI. I drove the truck home the night I bought it and ir ran awesome other than the 4 speed manual forcing my engine to rev at 2300 RPM at 100km/hr...anyway, I got her home.
The next day I went to start it, and she just kept turning over and no fire. I kept trying to the glow plugs (which has been by passed by previous owner with a switch, not the relay) and no luck. I popped the hood to find two spades on two glow plugs on drivers side had snapped off?? How the hell does that happen? Do they get so hot they just fall off?
Anyway, my first glow plug replacement went well, but the second one not so much...here's my issue

The threaded part of the glow plug came out and separated from the electrode, but the electrode is still stuck in the glow plug port. I've tried using vice grips to pull it out, but when I pull the electrode up and out it slams against the underneath of the head. What the heck?? How do I get this sucker out with out having to take my head off??
Do I throw some oil down there and try to crank it over in Hope's the compression will blow it out?

Thoughts, tips, advice are very welcome!
Thank you folks!

 

Seafoam might break up the carbon better than oil.

 

The guy you bought it from warmed it up before you showed up.
I broke a tip of a glow plug off once, put a rag over it, started the engine up and it popped out into the rag. But I got lucky, if it went the other way it could have gone really bad.
Sounds like you're still able to grab a part of it so I'd do what Gen said and try to clean it up and work it out. An old trick to remove stuck glow plugs is to chuck them up in a drill and spin them backwards while slightly pulling up. This helps "machine" off the carbon. Don't know if you have enough left to try that, but maybe it's an option.

 

Bummer.

Before you remove the others douse them liberally with PB Blaster and loosen/tighten them a bit each night for a week. This will hopefully prevent the tips of the others from doing the same thing. Make sure you're only using Motorcraft or Beru GPs. Good luck.

 

On my '92 IDI I learned the hard way about glow plugs....DO NOT USE CHEAP OFF BRAND GLOWPLUGS!!! I bought a cheap set Ebay plugs & had 4 of them twist off low enough I couldn't get hold of them. Wound up drilling them out. Used a really small drill bit VERY CAREFULLY. Got thru, them cranked engine over & blew stuff out, then used next bigger bit, Kept doing this till I had all the plug out.
I still got 2 of them twisted/broke off in there that I haven't got drilled out. Been running round like this for a few months..
& I have nitemares about breaking off a small drill bit in there.

 

When I bought the truck he seller through in 8 new autolites and at the time I was thinking "wow awesome", and after what I've read on here about them, they are the worse to use. So I assume hes only been throwing in autolites and he couldn't figure out why he had to change them out every 2 months.
So I'll scrap the other 6, remove the one I already put in, junk the one I was about to put in and go buy 8 new ZD-1A Motorcraft GPs, correct?
I'm just on days off now so I'll be tackling this thing tomorrow, luckily I have a can of seafoam to use. The electrode is not protruding enough from the hole to get the chuck of a drill on it, I could throw some seafoam down there right now, and by tomorrow maybe eroded enough of the carbon off that either I can pull it out or turn the truck over to fire it out.
But now I have another question, see my truck was just turning over and not firing up. Which led me to think it's the glow plugs, which maybe it is, but shouldn't it still start with these warm temperatures? You said you have been running your truck with two broken glow plugs, how have you been able to start it?
Sorry in advance for stupid questions but this is my first diesel so I'm trying to learn as much as I can about this 6.9

 

I'd just crank it and it should pop out. Or, if it doesn't, fire it up. Might want to put a metal shield or rag over the glow plug hole, though. And keep the hood closed.

 

Mine 2 broken ones I still not got out are broke off deep enough I can;t get hold with anything. As I screwed them out they came up far enough the swelled tip jamed & then broke off. I always screw out some, stop screw back in a bit, then screw out some more, back & forth till they are out....no matter what brand. The cheapie plugs seem to just come apart somewhere hi or low down on the plug.
The two I have broke off in my '92 are the swelled tips that jammed in the plug hole & won't blow out. Actually wish they would.
As far as starting I plug the block heater up, that helps. Also a really, really small squirt of either when all else fails. Too much will either lock the engine & bend rods!
(Either should be outlawed to keep folks like me from using it! I hate the stuff.....but....LOL)
I ordered a few set of Motorcraft off of Ebay at $72/set & have 6 in my '92 & full set of 8 in my '90.
Anybody know of any better prices for Motorcraft or Beru GP's?

BTW, I wouldn't recommend driving the broken part back into the head. Try to needlenose or vicegrip if anyway at all. Otherwise maybe drilling them out like I did.
Good luck!!!!!

 

Put a folded blanket or some other heavy padding over the plug if you're going to try to use compression to remove it. If it works it will blast out like fired from a shotgun. I watched a guy have to do about 4 of them that way years ago.

 

After the two glow plug spades had snapped, my truck would just turn and turn but not fire. But I didnt know I could still get it to fire up!? So essentially this truck doesnt need glow plugs to start? I just needs the block to be warm?

 

I've ruled out drilling because I dont want to remove all the hard injection lines to get in there...if I dont hsve to of course lol. This firing up sounds like it should work if shes got the compression to do it.
Haha I like using ether in my tractor...it also has a glow plug issues, but it's a simple problem and I just jump the positive terminal of the battery to the dead glow plug and bam!
I heard we can use wd40 as starting aid, so you guys concur with that?

 

Catlan keep us posted on progress, I'm watching.
Actually I need to go look again at my 2 twisted off GP's & see where they broke off at, don't remember. Seems like it was more than just the tips, whatever they were wedged in the hole very tight. I Just know that I got to drill them out & am dreading it big-time!! Been driving my '90 mostly lately.

As far as WD-40, yes it'll work, just got to get it in farther than either. Maybe pull aircleaner, & maybe have to use more than either. But it'll be mujch more gentler than either!!

 

The glow plug tip has swollen and its not carbon. The cheap plugs swell and get stuck.

 

For starting aids i got WD40 to work once or twice but over all it isnt any good(like for any type of cold weather). I've found gasoline to be awesome, FWIW. You just need a spray bottle you dont care about(cause it will ruin the seals quickly) and to DISABLE THE GLOW PLUGS.

Also, DONT SPRAY UNTIL THE ENGINE IS TURNING. The spark created on the fender solenoid could ignite the atomized gas if you spray early. Dont mess with that situation.
But once the engine catches on the gas you can keep spraying till your hand gets tired and itll keep running. Its great for priming injectors or just saving the starter after some bad air intrusion, etc.
You can also use a gasoline-soaked rag over the stock N/A intake with the screen on it.

As stated above, just a tiny bit of ether will also do the job, for a little bit. The modern ether formulations suck in cold weather, though. Around freezing they are about worthless, IMHO. I haven't tried gas in cold weather.

Block heating is great! If you plug it in for 2-4 hours(depending on temp) an engine in good shape should fire up without glow plugs or at least with minimal help from them.
Even if 2 are busted the other 6 should fire up the engine still, you may have to cycle them twice to do it.

 

I got my truck to fire in -35 with no glow plugs by hoarding in the engine bay then putting a diesel heater under it until it got hot. The same should work for you no problem in the temperatures you have now.