a tale of delphi glow plugs (with happy ending)

[Shadetreemechanic]

About three years ago, when uhaul was clearing out all their stock, I bought a set of glowplugs from them on ebay. I thought u haul only used motorcraft plugs, so I didn't care that the brand was not listed in the ad.
When they arrived I saw that they were Delphi brand so I got on here and began to search to see if anyone had used them. I didn't find anything, and knowing that other delphi parts had been good for me, I put them in my 94 f-250.
Fast forward to last week, all glow plugs were dead so I began to change them out with motorcraft.
Three of the 8 came out without their tips and the other five were swelled and about to go.
In retrospect, I should have bumped the motor over to see if I could blow the tips out. I did not.
When I started the truck after replacing the plugs it sounded awful. Knocking loudly at idle and through the rpm range. It quieted down after a couple minutes but retained a tick that was noticable from 1500 RPMs up and got louder with RPM.
I drove it that way about 15 minutes to see if it would clear. It did not.
My thought was that a valve had been damaged by the tip and I was not pleased. I walked away from the truck and let it sit for a week while I mentally prepared myself to get into the top end of what had been the best running IDI I have on the lot.
Yesterday I had to drive the truck another 20 miles. About 3 miles into my trip the truck started clattering and popping in the motor. Lasted about 5 seconds.
Now the tick is gone and the motor sounds just like it used to.
The purpose of this thread is to 1. make sure everyone knows that Delphi glowplugs are not much better than autolites. 2. Put out there that nasty sounding ticks from glow plug tips can get better. I couldn't find either of those tidbits using the search function.
Thanks for listening.

 

[FORDF250HDXLT]

if it's not a Beru,it's just won't do.

 

[chris142]

Mine had Delphi in it when I bought it.i read about glow plug issues here and put beru in it immediately. I kept the Delphi as a get me home set. I cooked a couple for fun and they did not swell

 

[FORDF250HDXLT]

Mine had Delphi in it when I bought it.i read about glow plug issues here and put beru in it immediately. I kept the Delphi as a get me home set. I cooked a couple for fun and they did not swell

with all due respect, i would use starting fluid in the event of an emergency before i screwed something in my engine that could cause catastrophic failure.just a little squirt (preferably while cranking) will start her right up to get you to an auto store or home, issue free.

 

[jwalterus]

I personally have a total of 5 sets of used good berus that I keep around.
One set stays in the glove box, along with a 3/8" deep socket, a 1/4" swivel, and a 6" extension.
I keep 4 sets (plus the randoms and a couple sets of delco 60g's for chebbys) in a baggie in a drawer in the tool chest with the special removal tool.
That way I have a set to get me home in the truck, and if anyone I know needs gps and can't afford a new set, it's a case of "here ya go".
I change my gps nearly every year, I don't have to, but I can't plug in where I work, so I like to know it'll fire for sure in -20, -30, and "What the F*&# am I outside for?!?!?!" temperatures.
At -35, a can of ether doesn't do much more than dribble.

 

[Leeland]

You must be registered for see images attach

Lost tip

 

[chris142]

I don't know why I even carry a spare.mine will start without them,unless it's frigid cold

 

[Shadetreemechanic]

You must be registered for see images attach

Lost tip

I am sure I have some matching dimples in mine now. probably on piston tops as well.

 

[TahoeTom]

If the GP tips make it out past the exhaust valve they still may pass through your turbo if you have one.

 

[FORDF250HDXLT]

I change my gps nearly every year, I don't have to, but I can't plug in where I work

im still on the original set of motorcraft/beru i installed back in '09 in chip truck.i think you can feel safe to go every other year if ya want.
about 90k miles and many,many,many starts during the day (only the first start of the day,do they generally glow though of course) soon here,after the truck sits on a job long enough,the guys are about to learn to watch that wait to start light during the day lol.

 

[chris142]

I put my beru ones in back in 2012. 45000 miles ago

 

[BrianX128]

Ever since I got my truck and saw the crap condition the autolites in my truck were in, I've wondered just how many other third party companies are making parts that are total junk that could jeopardize your engine and depending on the part your safety.

For pretty much that exact reason and being at best a "YouTube mechanic", I won't do anything new I haven't done before without getting someone's expertise online. There's a lot more knowledge then you would think you could obtain from a half hour of googling.