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Missing glow plugs

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Old Jan 16, 2026 | 09:15 AM
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Missing glow plugs

Bought a ****-box project truck; 2008 F350 SD, 4x4, 6.4 deleted and studded. When I bought it the seller showed it had a code for #3 glow plug, no big deal. When I went to replace it I found 2 glow plugs missing.....just the holes with the harness in place. Truck runs great, very strong, with no blow-by. The seller was a real sketchy type, lied about a bunch of stuff, so my first instinct is he did it to hide a defect but I can't imagine what that would be. Any one care to speculate on why someone would leave them out? I've installed new plugs but haven't started it yet, in the middle of replacing a ton of parts.

Thanks
 
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Old Jan 17, 2026 | 06:44 AM
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I was curious because of a neighbor who had a 7.3 that blew the GP's out. Apparently its not that uncommon on the 6.4, so you may wanna check there is threads where the holes are.
 
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Old Jan 17, 2026 | 09:19 AM
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No blowby with no glow plugs installed? Would think missing glow plugs would be heard/felt. Broken glow plugs sealing the hole? Push the broken tip into the cylinder with the new glow plugs?
 
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Old Jan 17, 2026 | 10:18 AM
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Honestly that makes no sense, but of it works for you carry on.
 

Last edited by Eman85; Jan 17, 2026 at 10:19 AM.
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Old Jan 17, 2026 | 02:11 PM
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Originally Posted by apache84
I was curious because of a neighbor who had a 7.3 that blew the GP's out. Apparently its not that uncommon on the 6.4, so you may wanna check there is threads where the holes are.

I was able to install new ones so we'll see if they blow out again, thanks for the tip
 
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Old Jan 17, 2026 | 02:13 PM
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Originally Posted by Old and soft
No blowby with no glow plugs installed? Would think missing glow plugs would be heard/felt. Broken glow plugs sealing the hole? Push the broken tip into the cylinder with the new glow plugs?

No blow by entering the crank case, if there was compression escaping through the open holes it wasn't enough to blow out the connectors. No, the plugs were missing. Wierd i know.
 
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Old Jan 17, 2026 | 02:14 PM
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Originally Posted by Eman85
Honestly that makes no sense, but of it works for you carry on.

Didn't read the entire post?
 
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Old Jan 19, 2026 | 07:48 AM
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Having driven a 6.0 that wasn't firing on all cylinders when it was too cold, you would hear/feel a couple dead cylinders - and with no compression because of no glow plugs, you'd have had a couple dead cylinders. Unless you didn't drive it/start it before purchasing it? In which case if you put the new plugs in before trying to start it, you'd never see the dead cylinders.

Sequence of events here has me a bit stymied, because what amounts to a hole in a couple cylinders should DEFINITELY have run rough, been pretty loud, and flooded your oil with unburnt diesel - not good for your bearings.
 
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Old Jan 19, 2026 | 08:08 AM
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Originally Posted by 99powerstrokedF250
Having driven a 6.0 that wasn't firing on all cylinders when it was too cold, you would hear/feel a couple dead cylinders - and with no compression because of no glow plugs, you'd have had a couple dead cylinders. Unless you didn't drive it/start it before purchasing it? In which case if you put the new plugs in before trying to start it, you'd never see the dead cylinders.

Sequence of events here has me a bit stymied, because what amounts to a hole in a couple cylinders should DEFINITELY have run rough, been pretty loud, and flooded your oil with unburnt diesel - not good for your bearings.

I definitely drove it first and for a couple weeks after before starting to work on it, ran and starts fine, no misses or noise which i also find odd. Haven't started it since installing the new GPs yet, still putting the front end back together, but should be trying it in a week maybe.
 
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