smoke from gp resistor

[softboyled]

Hi,

I searched a bit, but couldn't find anything on this...

I decided this evening to finally check and change the glow plugs in my 1010. I had some cold weather starting problems this past winter that I never really resolved, so I've had the plugs in had for a while. I got the wellman ones from the recommended ebay guy (marked 6a843g070). I tested all 8 and found resistance of ~3 ohms at the lowest (3), ~12 ohms (4) and one open. I changed each one seperately, making sure that the wires went back to where they belonged. I checked the resistance of the installed plugs and found six of them to be ~3 ohms, one to be 0.1 ohms (!) and the last (open) one was frozen, so I didn't change it. I left the hood open (thank goodness), turned the key to on, and waited for the loght to go out. I noticed right away that the voltage read a bit lower than normal (low end of the yellow). Then I noticed the smoke and turned it off. I rechecked the wires for frayed insulation (none) and general connectedness. It all looked good.

The only other thing I did was put a drop of oil on the plug threads before installing them.

Any ideas???

Thanks,
Greg

 

[softboyled]

one to be 0.1 ohms (!)

That was, of course, the problem. I'll leave this thread as a monument to my stupidity... Now to figure out how to extract a swollen plug...

 

[maritimer]

RE: Re: smoke from gp resistor

i have heard un screwing it then turning the engine over a couple times generlly works to push them out but your milage may vary

 

[CUCVFAN]

RE: Re: smoke from gp resistor

Once you let the smoke out of them, they're pretty much done...

 

[Rickyoday]

RE: Re: smoke from gp resistor

I made my own glow plug removal tool by taking an inexpensive mid-size screwdriver, splitting the tip with a cutting tool, then heating and bending the two tips into the " V for victory". Then I heated and bent the "V" into a curl, as if you were holding a bowling ball, and it's finished! Next, use your ratchet to loosen the glow plug, with the ratchet still on, grab the base of the plug with the removal tool, and continue backing out the plug with the ratchet while pulling on the screwdriver. The glow plug cuts it's own threads on the way out. So far this has worked on all swollen glow plugs I have encountered. I put a small magnet inside the socket(Sears, Snap-On, and others, sell these magnets in a set, for keeping the nuts in the socket when removed) The magnet keeps the debris from the new thread cutting process stuck to the end of the glow plug, so it doesn't fall into the engine. As far as the smoke from the resistor, I've seen that several times. An active duty Army mechanic told me that's normal when you have new plugs.. He said that dust, dirt, grease, whatever, accumulates on the resistor, and doesn't burn off because of the low current draw when there's a few bad plugs. When there's all new plugs, the high current draw heats the resistor, thus burning off the crud, dust, whatever. It sounded good to me, although it could be just a good story. Good luck, Rick.

 

[Blood_of_Tyrants]

Re: RE: Re: smoke from gp resistor

I made my own glow plug removal tool by taking an inexpensive mid-size screwdriver, splitting the tip with a cutting tool, then heating and bending the two tips into the " V for victory". Then I heated and bent the "V" into a curl, as if you were holding a bowling ball, and it's finished! Next, use your ratchet to loosen the glow plug, with the ratchet still on, grab the base of the plug with the removal tool, and continue backing out the plug with the ratchet while pulling on the screwdriver. The glow plug cuts it's own threads on the way out. So far this has worked on all swollen glow plugs I have encountered. I put a small magnet inside the socket(Sears, Snap-On, and others, sell these magnets in a set, for keeping the nuts in the socket when removed) The magnet keeps the debris from the new thread cutting process stuck to the end of the glow plug, so it doesn't fall into the engine.

How about a pic of this tool you made?

 

[softboyled]

Re: RE: Re: smoke from gp resistor

Once you let the smoke out of them, they're pretty much done...

The plugs did cycle normally once I replaced that shorted plug. Is there anything I can do to check the resistor, or should I just expect it to fail soon?

 

[softboyled]

Re: RE: Re: smoke from gp resistor

As far as the smoke from the resistor, I've seen that several times. An active duty Army mechanic told me that's normal when you have new plugs.. He said that dust, dirt, grease, whatever, accumulates on the resistor, and doesn't burn off because of the low current draw when there's a few bad plugs. When there's all new plugs, the high current draw heats the resistor, thus burning off the crud, dust, whatever. It sounded good to me, although it could be just a good story. Good luck, Rick.

The one (new) plug was internally shorted. Replacing it did the trick.

The new plug / burning crud idea seems reasonable, but in this case I think there was a bit more smoke than I'd expect from that. Not enough to evacuate the neighborhood, but a good amount.

Thanks,

 

[Rickyoday]

RE: Re: RE: Re: smoke from gp resistor

I hope these pics are sized right. The tool is 12" long including the wooden handle. The length of each "finger" is 5/8" with the fingers being 1/2" apart. This is not a "pretty" tool by any means, but it works for me! Rick

 

[CCATLETT1984]

RE: Re: RE: Re: smoke from gp resistor

there are some fool-proof tools for glow plug extraction, a search on here will find them
http://jjandaracing.com/en-us/dept_9.html