broken glow plug
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broken glow plug
while removing the glow plugs on my 97 psd today one of them broke. the body came out but the element remained in the head. the internal brass rod is in place. tomorrow i will try to use a small slide hammer and a pair of vice grips to remove it. the ford dealer said i would need to pull the cylinder head and drive it out with a punch. they said around 1700 dollars. anybody else had this problem before?
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Went through this two days ago. Glow plug was tight coming out and I tried all the tricks. Vice grips, slide hammer, etc. I wouldn't recommend this due to the chance of breaking the tip of the GP off and then you really have to take the head off. Some "magician" mechanics have been lucky enough to raise the piston to tdc, blow compressed air through the GP hole and use a really strong shop vac on the injector hole to suck the tip out. I've never had to do this.
The same thing happened to me. The outer part of the GP eventually came out leaving the electrode in the hole. Here's how I got it out. I took the rocker arm off to give me more room to work. I sprayed PB blaster in the hole that the electrode is stuck in and let it sit over night. In my experience this stuff is the best that I've been able to find in the parts stores. Much better than WD-40. The next morning I put a pair of needle nose vice grips on the electrode to ensure that it wouldn't fall into the cylinder. Then I took a long punch and gently tapped the end of the electrode in instead of trying to pull it out. This broke the hold that the carbon had on it. Then I started gently pushing it in and pulling it out while turning it in the hole. Be careful to push and pull straight up and down. You don't want to break it off. I took my time and it came out in one piece. I much prefer finessing it out to torquing on it with pry bars and banging on it with slide hammers. I guess these things have worked at times for others but I wouldn't do that to my truck unless it was a LAST resort. This is the way I look at it. Be as gentle as you can but as firm as you have to be. If that doesn't work and you need to apply force, do so sparingly. If it still won't come out, you only have two choices, work it hard to try and force it out and if it comes out without breaking your in luck. Go buy a lottery ticket! If it breaks when it comes out, you will have to have the heads removed to get it out or it can seriously damage your engine. I've heard of people just putting a new plug in, starting the engine and hoping that it passes. This to me would be like a person passing a baseball sized kidney stone. Ouch!
Good luck and take the time it takes so that it takes less time in the end.
The same thing happened to me. The outer part of the GP eventually came out leaving the electrode in the hole. Here's how I got it out. I took the rocker arm off to give me more room to work. I sprayed PB blaster in the hole that the electrode is stuck in and let it sit over night. In my experience this stuff is the best that I've been able to find in the parts stores. Much better than WD-40. The next morning I put a pair of needle nose vice grips on the electrode to ensure that it wouldn't fall into the cylinder. Then I took a long punch and gently tapped the end of the electrode in instead of trying to pull it out. This broke the hold that the carbon had on it. Then I started gently pushing it in and pulling it out while turning it in the hole. Be careful to push and pull straight up and down. You don't want to break it off. I took my time and it came out in one piece. I much prefer finessing it out to torquing on it with pry bars and banging on it with slide hammers. I guess these things have worked at times for others but I wouldn't do that to my truck unless it was a LAST resort. This is the way I look at it. Be as gentle as you can but as firm as you have to be. If that doesn't work and you need to apply force, do so sparingly. If it still won't come out, you only have two choices, work it hard to try and force it out and if it comes out without breaking your in luck. Go buy a lottery ticket! If it breaks when it comes out, you will have to have the heads removed to get it out or it can seriously damage your engine. I've heard of people just putting a new plug in, starting the engine and hoping that it passes. This to me would be like a person passing a baseball sized kidney stone. Ouch!
Good luck and take the time it takes so that it takes less time in the end.
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Joined: Dec 2003
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From: Albuquerque NM
Originally Posted by quiethorse
Went through this two days ago. Glow plug was tight coming out and I tried all the tricks. Vice grips, slide hammer, etc. I wouldn't recommend this due to the chance of breaking the tip of the GP off and then you really have to take the head off. Some "magician" mechanics have been lucky enough to raise the piston to tdc, blow compressed air through the GP hole and use a really strong shop vac on the injector hole to suck the tip out. I've never had to do this.
The same thing happened to me. The outer part of the GP eventually came out leaving the electrode in the hole. Here's how I got it out. I took the rocker arm off to give me more room to work. I sprayed PB blaster in the hole that the electrode is stuck in and let it sit over night. In my experience this stuff is the best that I've been able to find in the parts stores. Much better than WD-40. The next morning I put a pair of needle nose vice grips on the electrode to ensure that it wouldn't fall into the cylinder. Then I took a long punch and gently tapped the end of the electrode in instead of trying to pull it out. This broke the hold that the carbon had on it. Then I started gently pushing it in and pulling it out while turning it in the hole. Be careful to push and pull straight up and down. You don't want to break it off. I took my time and it came out in one piece. I much prefer finessing it out to torquing on it with pry bars and banging on it with slide hammers. I guess these things have worked at times for others but I wouldn't do that to my truck unless it was a LAST resort. This is the way I look at it. Be as gentle as you can but as firm as you have to be. If that doesn't work and you need to apply force, do so sparingly. If it still won't come out, you only have two choices, work it hard to try and force it out and if it comes out without breaking your in luck. Go buy a lottery ticket! If it breaks when it comes out, you will have to have the heads removed to get it out or it can seriously damage your engine. I've heard of people just putting a new plug in, starting the engine and hoping that it passes. This to me would be like a person passing a baseball sized kidney stone. Ouch!
Good luck and take the time it takes so that it takes less time in the end.
The same thing happened to me. The outer part of the GP eventually came out leaving the electrode in the hole. Here's how I got it out. I took the rocker arm off to give me more room to work. I sprayed PB blaster in the hole that the electrode is stuck in and let it sit over night. In my experience this stuff is the best that I've been able to find in the parts stores. Much better than WD-40. The next morning I put a pair of needle nose vice grips on the electrode to ensure that it wouldn't fall into the cylinder. Then I took a long punch and gently tapped the end of the electrode in instead of trying to pull it out. This broke the hold that the carbon had on it. Then I started gently pushing it in and pulling it out while turning it in the hole. Be careful to push and pull straight up and down. You don't want to break it off. I took my time and it came out in one piece. I much prefer finessing it out to torquing on it with pry bars and banging on it with slide hammers. I guess these things have worked at times for others but I wouldn't do that to my truck unless it was a LAST resort. This is the way I look at it. Be as gentle as you can but as firm as you have to be. If that doesn't work and you need to apply force, do so sparingly. If it still won't come out, you only have two choices, work it hard to try and force it out and if it comes out without breaking your in luck. Go buy a lottery ticket! If it breaks when it comes out, you will have to have the heads removed to get it out or it can seriously damage your engine. I've heard of people just putting a new plug in, starting the engine and hoping that it passes. This to me would be like a person passing a baseball sized kidney stone. Ouch!
Good luck and take the time it takes so that it takes less time in the end.
Great post and welcome FTE.
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quiethorse, thanks for the info. I was able to remove it thru injector hole with a magnet. It took a lot of patience and a couple of hours but sure beats removing the head. Tomorrow i will start on the other 4. Hopefully i will get lucky and wont break any. If i do i will surley use your technique so that i dont break the electrode again. thanks rick
