Swollen glow plug removal

[snowtrac nome]

the poor gi method is a 9 mm open end wrench its the only use I have ever had for that wrench

 

[cucvrus]

I have been using a 3/8" glow plug socket. If they are swelled. All the rules change. By what ever means available. Up to and including removing the fuel delivery nozzles, batteries and inner fender aprons. What ever it takes. it seems the right rear ones like to swell the most. But 100% recovery is my record. Curved needle nose, vise grips, pry-bars, pullers and any other method of extraction. Everything is fair and legal. Gt all the parts out and move on. Not sure why the hole has to be the same size as the glow plug tip. It seems it would work just as well with the hole as large as the threaded part. But it is what it is. And I am usually removing them from other peoples vehicles. Diesel G vans are my favorite all time. The 6.5 was my longest job. The Chevrolet dealer told the owner $800. for glow plugs. The owner was told my the mechanic that I was good at getting them out. At least I am good for something.

 

[snowtrac nome]

I have used a 9 mm open end wrench as a poor mans tool to pry out the plugs while turning them, same way one uses the special tool

 

[Ue413]

Is it only certain brands of glow plugs that will swell.....or will they all do it, and if so, anything to avoid it?

 

[cucvrus]

I avoid Wellmans like the plague. They have swelled is 2 days. And I have used 13 G AC Delco and they have lasted 15+ years. A few AC's have swelled but I never had them all swell like I did the Wellmans. Good Luck. Happy Holidays.

 

[Tinstar]

They are called "swellmans" for a reason.
Of course the one that broke on me was the passanger rear.
No fun.

Been running Acdelco 60Gs since truck was born again.
Flawelss ever since.

 

[gottaluvit]

It would have made too much sense to have the GPs thread into an adapter that could be removed regardless if the GPs were swollen. Overpaid pencil pushers that never had a dirty hand.

 

[snowtrac nome]

It would have made too much sense to have the GPs thread into an adapter that could be removed regardless if the GPs were swollen. Overpaid pencil pushers that never had a dirty hand.

that's a good idea, I always wondered why they didn't just use a larger thread. My experience has been that dual resister plugs like the ford 7.3 uses will almost never swell up

 

[mattsmoski]

I bought the removal tool. So nice pulls it out nice and easy. Arrived the next day from Oregon.

 

[Laszlo]

Took all day. But went with the ac delcos. One broken plug took three hours to finally extract thru the injector bore. I have read the back and forth about the delcos. Im hoping it works for me with a factory setup. Ill let yous know how it goes.

 

[cucvrus]

Took all day. But went with the ac delcos. One broken plug took three hours to finally extract thru the injector bore. I have read the back and forth about the delcos. Im hoping it works for me with a factory setup. Ill let yous know how it goes.

You should be golden. I have used nothing but A C Delco 13G glow plugs for over 25 years of private ownership. Did I have any failures? Yes. But nothing I couldn't handle with a vise grips a prybar and a set of forceps. I have removed steering shafts, Inner fenders on both sides and a lot of fuel delivery nozzles but never had to remove a cylinder head. You only need to be 1% smarter than the object you are working on. Good Luck. I hope it all works out for you.

 

[oshacraig]

You should be golden. I have used nothing but for over 25 years of private ownership. Did I have any failures? Yes. But nothing I couldn't handle with a vise grips a prybar and a set of forceps. I have removed steering shafts, Inner fenders on both sides and a lot of fuel delivery nozzles but never had to remove an cylinder head. You only need to be 1% smarter than the object you are working on. Good Luck. I hope it all works out for you.

Leroy Diesel has the glow plugs removal tool. I have bought several of them for friends they work excellent. I'm surprised more people don't know about these.

 

[Keith_J]

Guess I lucked out. Never had a single plug swell. What causes it? Age and design. If air or more importantly, oxygen, hits the actual heating element, it causes expansion. The outer sheath which shields and seals the actual heating element from combustion is very resistant to oxidation. But it is also thin so it has little strength.
The heater is buried in zinc oxide, this conducts heat. The weak link is the thermal and electrical insulator between the center terminal and the body. When the glow plug is energized, pressure in this sealed unit rises and if the seal cannot withstand, it leaks, to outside. When it cools, it can draw air in, air with oxygen. Next time it heats, the oxygen corrodes the element and the sheath. This causes slow but steady swelling of the plug since this rust has more volume and thermal expansion promotes growth.

An ounce of prevention equals a pound of cure applies here. Finding a weak glow plug using resistance alone is difficult as measuring the typical resistance of glow plugs is difficult with a standard ohmmeter. The resistance also changes as the glow plug heats, this positive temperature coefficient is part of the self regulating nature. As the plug heats, resistance increases which reduces power. My shade tree method uses a battery load tester. This device is normally used to apply a large resistance load to a battery, measuring voltage drop with a simple analog voltmeter. Using it to energize a glow plug shows the positive temperature coefficient as a dynamic, be it subjective, indication on the load tester voltmeter.

What does this mean? A failing glow plug will have a faster voltage rise. I typically do a mental count after the switch is engaged to when the needle passes a set mark. Takes only seconds. Naturally, a dead plug won't register. But weak plugs are easily found.

I replace all plugs if one is found weak. Another reason I have been lucky.

 

[frank8003]

https://leroydiesel.com/products/leroys-glow-plug-removal-tool/

 

[oshacraig]

https://leroydiesel.com/products/leroys-glow-plug-removal-tool/

Where I bought mine and a few for gifts.

 

[Laszlo]

Took all day. But went with the ac delcos. One broken plug took three hours to finally extract thru the injector bore. I have read the back and forth about the delcos. Im hoping it works for me with a factory setup. Ill let yous know how it goes.

Shes back up and running great. Plugs cycle breifly in the morning and then thruout the day after warmup on restarts it never comes up wait to start. I did not know to depress the pedal on cold starts. Does everyone do this? It high idles for about 15-20 seconds and then automatically kicks down. I guess its that solenoid at the top center of the motor.
I have absolutely fallen in love with this truck. Its a pleasure to drive out here in southern Alabamas dirt and country roads. This website is the most detailed and informative cucv site on the net. Im so lucky this info is here or i would have never been able to get this truck back out on the road again. Thank you!

 

[cucvrus]

Great news. Keep everything else operating as designed and all should work well. Get into long cold cranks and hard starts and that is where all the trouble begins. Good Luck.

 

[GunnyM1009]

Plus one for the Glow Plug removal tool. I was pulling all of mine to put in some 60G plugs. The guy that had it before me put some cheapies in and the one that was stuck was different from the cheapies so I'm betting it was stuck when he changed them as well and he just left it.

 

[oshacraig]

I bet the non hacker didn't say anything about the swelled plug. The tool is a simple feat of engineering that kept me from going nuts.

 

[cucvrus]

Plus one for the Glow Plug removal tool. I was pulling all of mine to put in some 60G plugs. The guy that had it before me put some cheapies in and the one that was stuck was different from the cheapies so I'm betting it was stuck when he changed them as well and he just left it.

That one with the yellow head is not a cheapy. that is an original AC Delco 13 G. Back in the day they had yellow plastic insert and were made in USA. Now they have black plastic inserts and are made in Italy or Germany. IMHO they are still the best glow plugs for a CUCV 13G all the way. 25 years of private ownership and over 50 CUCV's will never convince me of any other way. Have a Great Day.