take your time.

the tip of the glowplug (the heating element) has swollen (or has enough carbon buildup on it) so that it can't come "back up" through the hole...yet.

I would start soaking it with penetrating lube..use the vise grips to hollddddd it tight...

you'll need to get it working in an up & down motion..if all it wants to do is bend, when you push down on it...then you're going to have to been careful not to snap it off shorter where you might not be able to grab it any longer.



the last reallllyy tough one we had, we had to hit the vice grips with a hammer to jar carbon off the tip...once it broke loose (in a downward direction) we were able to work it up & down until it eventually came all the way out....in the good direction, LOL ...UP!

stuck glowplugs are not a fun project...but take your time, even if it takes days...before you do something drastic and get too forceful with it...otherwise the head will be coming off...

good luck~

Dave

 

Thanks Golfer, thats kinda what I thought and what I am doing. I am trying the tight vice grips and hammer trick, but cant seem to get any swing on the hammer because there is only about two inches of play between the upper firewall and the vice grips. (the rear one on the drivers side) Will keep trying. Any thing on the harness plugs?

 

Any thing on the harness plugs?

yeah...about those Ford parts guys... :blah:

check our website...

at worst you would need (1) UVC gasket($88), (1) UVC harness ($72), and...mayyyybee the engine side harness repair kit...don't have it listed, but we have them...I think they might be ~$25.

if the "burn" or melting hasn't migrated back through the UVC harness to the gasket..then all you'll need is the UVC harness.

 

I have used carb an choke cleaner on glow plugs to loosen the carbon.

 

ok thanks, sounds like i need the repair kit thing. All of the UVC stuff seems to be fine, it is just the outside plug on the harness that plugs into the valve cover gasket.

 

An older ford tech had a way of getting out those glow plugs in a jam too.
Only used for the really really last resort.

Get out all of it you can, and fire it up, floor the pedal till it blows out.
Might have to brake tq it to build enough pressure to blow er outa there.

Like I said, not used unless absolutely have too.
Oh yeah, make sure no one is near the side of the truck , cause when it comes out.....well...it COMES OUT!
And it gonna make a mess with the valve cover off.

 

lol, I have heard of that! I might add one or two more "really" in front of last resort.

 

before I did that...I would put that piston near TDC...drive the chunks down into the cylinder...pull the exhaust manifold on that head..and remove the valve spring on the exh valve of that cylinder...

and remove the chunks through the exhaust port.

no need to (potentially) bitch up a piston & cyl walls by "firing" it out with explosive force...

 

Before I did that, I would pull the head off. And Golfer will not lead you wrong on anything.

 

I would like to thank yall. You are great!

 

Just helping out where we can. Let us know how it come out.

 

ok, worked on it for several hours tapping and tapping Friday night. Sprayed carb cleaner and let set overnight. Started tapping again this morning for aout an hour. Taking a break, still no movement.

 

Still trying to get the bugger loose, taking another break.

 

Hope you don't have to pull the head off, that would be a good way to ruin the weekend.

 

As I said, it came apart.the little top part, the tube with the threads on it about 3 inches long and the element itself, or the guts. All came out except the element itself, which is fortunately long enough to extend outside the head long enough to grab ahold of. It is not budging at all. I am seriously thinking about just putting the tube part back over the element and screwing it back down in the hole, and not changing it, but running on 7 plugs only. Does anyone know any reason not to do this?

 

Ok, Weekend saved, at least the Sunday part. Finally got it out. tried about every chemical known to man, then built a jig that would get the hit end out in the open and got a good swing at her! About 3 licks and she was loose, then a lil jiggling got her all the way out. One side down. After a minute break and a coke, I am gonna start the passenger side.

 

What brand glow plug are they anyways?

 

The truck, I bought used and these were in it at 115K. Never changed them so I don't know. I am putting in Motorcraft. now 240K miles. Bad news is, I did the back 3 on the pass side and now the front one is another one broke off and stuck. %&%(^%^* lol.

 

Could you tell if the old ones were Motorcraft or Autolites?

 

my guess would be autolites

 

BBarkly , I'm so glade you got the broken ones out, BUT to be politicaly
correct it must have been a fixture to get a stright hit with and not
unpoliticaly correct JIG, you might hurt some of our leaders feelings.

just had to see humor....good luck with the rest of them.

 

Got the last one out and replaced. Started the truck and it ran fine, just a bit oily at first from all the crap I put into it to get the stuck ones out. I dont really have any idea what the old ones were, but they really looked similar to the motorcrafts I put back in. I did find some problems with the wiring plugs.I think I need to get 3 pigtails on the engine wiring harness, one valve cover gasket, and one UVC harness to the glow plugs and injectors. Another project for another day. Gives me time to order them at least! THanks to everyone who has helped. You guys are the heroes!

 

Wow nice job...

 

I was just curious as I am getting ready to change my own glow plugs on my 99 f250, if a glow plug is stuck would it be practical to pull the injector to get some sort of solvent in the bore to help free it? or is this a bad idea?

 

Mercury outboards has some kind of carbon removal product that is supposed to work on this situation I have read but not tried thank God.

 

i was just thinkin that if ones froze up in there due to carbon then why not be able to put a lil soak on it from the end thats gunked up, as well as the outter end. Plus with the cylinder at tdc, it shouldnt take a whole lot to accomplish this.

 

just run a bunch of injector cleaner in it and run the snot out of it before you change them. that gets all the carbon off.