""Need advice desperately!!!""

TIMOTHY THOMAS

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AM A NEW MEMBER WITH A TERRIBLE PROBLEM. JUST GOT MY FIRST DIESEL, 1990 F350 4DOOR DUALLY WITH A SWAPPED 6.9. ITS GOT THE 5 SPEED TRANNY. HAVE GIVEN MUCH LOVE TO A TRULY UNLOVED TRUCK. ITS A KEEPER FOR SURE. HAD A STARTING PROBLEM ,DISCOVERED I HAD FRYED ALL 8 OF MY GLOPLUGS. NOT A BIGGIE (YET). GIT 8 NEW AUTOLITES FROM AUTOZONE N PIT TGEM IN. ALSO MADE SURE FUEL DELIVERY WAS OK. STILL SLIGHT STARTING STUMBLE . SO. I TRIED TO TAKE MY #1 GLOWPLUG OUT AND IT COMES APART. TOTALLY SEPARATES IN THE HEAD. OLD ONES GAVE NO TROUBLE COMING OUT. NOW HAVE 2 PLUGS THAT ARE SCREWED UP IN HEAD. HAS ANYONE EXPERIENCED THIS PHENOMENON WITH THESE IDI ENGINES?? IF SO HOW DID YOU REMEDY IT?? ANY,ANY THING WILL HELP ,EVEN WORST CASE SCENARIO. ALSO I DID NOT HAVE ANY TROUBLE PUTTING NEW PLUGS IN.. THEY FEEL"BENT" TO USE A WORD. I HOPE THAT SOMEONE CAN OFFER ANYTHING.THANKS IN ADVANCE FROM A BEWILDERED NEWCOMER . BE SAFE OUT THERE YA'LL ..
 

Oledirtypearl86

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Auto lights have the habit of swelling that's why everyone here swears by Moto craft zd9's if it was mine I'd try a screw and a slide hammer but iv herd of people sliding them back in and using air to blow out the injector hole or the worst case pull the head
 

Golden Helmet

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GIT 8 NEW AUTOLITES FROM AUTOZONE N PIT TGEM IN.
There's your problem. Next time do some reading before you buy parts, it's been posted 1,000,000 times across many different forums, NEVER put Autolite glow plugs in these engines. Same goes for Champion, Bosch, DieselRX, Wellman, and EVERYTHING ELSE OTHER THAN MOTORCRAFT / BERU.

The only glow plugs you can use are Motorcraft / Beru. Beru makes the glow plugs and they're put in Motorcraft bags. If you're using the 6.9 style glow plug system, you need Motorcraft ZD-1A glow plugs. If you're using the updated 7.3 style glow plug system, you want Motorcraft ZD9 plugs. You can order them off Amazon, and O'Reilly's can get them too but they don't keep them in stock so it's a special order, I don't know about Autozone / Advance / etc. but there's two sources right there for you.

Also, caps lock is not cruise control for cool. Just a heads up.
 

TIMOTHY THOMAS

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Sorry bout the caps guys ,just found out i got a cataract on left eye and even with glasses it is kinda hard to see what im writing ,apologies to all but at my age i need every advantage i can get.

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Christian9112

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FOR THE STUCK GLOWPLUGS, GET SOME SMALL VICEGRIPS AND TUG ON THE GLOWPLUGS. IT WOULD TAKE A LONG TIME BUT IT WILL COME OUT. I HAD TO TUG ON MINE FOR 30 MINUTES. WELL OVER THAN MY TUGGING ROUTINE. WIGGLE AND TUG, IN AND OUT. SLOWLY BUT SURELEY, IT WILL COME OUT. IF THE OUTER CASING OF THE GLOWPLUG BREAKS, DO NOT LET GO OF THAT VICE GRIP. THE HEATING ELEMENT OF THAT GLOWPLUG WILL FALL INSIDE THE CYLINDER. THEN YOUR TUG JOB BECOMES A HEAD JOB. (capslock for visibility)
 

Golden Helmet

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Sorry bout the caps guys ,just found out i got a cataract on left eye and even with glasses it is kinda hard to see what im writing ,apologies to all but at my age i need every advantage i can get.

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It's all good brother, sorry if I was a jerk, I probably shouldn't be posting right as I get home from work LOL

Just incase it may help you, if you don't already know, you can increase the size of the text on your phone by going to Settings, look for "Accessibility", and in there you should be able to find an option for Font Size and a slider to make the text bigger or smaller. If you also use a Windows PC, you can do the same thing by right clicking Start, go to "Settings", scroll down and click on "Ease of Access", click "Display", and there you'll find a slider there to make your text bigger :)

I can't help much with getting out the Autolite's of doom, all I can do there is try and make sure nobody else falls in to the same trap. But one of my side hobbies is teaching non-techy people how to use their devices and how to make them easier to use. I'm no good with a wrench, but computers I can handle :D
 

dgr

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Timothy,
Don't feel bad about the plugs. It's a poor design. Engineers used what's really a 6V glow plug and the 10 gauge wire to limit current to the plugs. I found some 12v plugs that fit and went with them. I should pull them and see how my experiment went

If you can get a pair of needle nose vice grips on there, you might be able to unscrew what's left. Some guys have used the compression of the engine (turn the key) to eject the stuck piece. You probably want to throw a towel over them if you try that.

Good luck
 

CDX825

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If you had two break off in the head you need to do the following. Put the cylinder with the broken plug to top dead center. Remove the injector on that cylinder. Push the remaining piece of the glow plug down into the cylinder from the glow plug bore. Use compressed air to blow the remaining piece out through the injector hole.
 

rwk

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If you broke off flush and can't get a hold of it, drill carefully the center out for a 8-32 thread (seems like I used a 1/8 drill) and tap it carefully, then you can use a slide hammer to pull out, I removed 1 this way, but you need a few special tools and a light touch, it was an Autolight
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dgr

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@rwk cool solution! It would be sweet with a left handed bolt and tap. Maybe just a left handed nut on the left handed tap. A guy would want to me real careful not to break the tap though. I may have to put an order into McMaster for some screws just in case.
 

rwk

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Hand wont matter, tap just barely grabs shell of glow plug ID, I only went in a few threads for fear of breaking tap, and pull lightly, you don't want it to turn, best to pull straight, this also, IMO stretches the body a little making it smaller, same principle as removing press fit valve guides, threading the guide ID and threading in a bolt then hammering the bolt from other side.
 

dgr

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My thought would be to use the threads in the head to unscrew the swollen plug. screw a left handed screw into the glow plug. Apply lubricant and gently screw it out. It would be tough to get a slide hammer on the rear cylinders.
 

david85

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Any idea what the reason was for killing the first set of glow plugs? I'd hate to see you get the autolites out and have this happen all over again. Beru plugs can be had for decent prices but they don't give them away either.

If you're able, post a photo of the glow plugs that came out. I'm curious if the 6.9 has the later 7.3 style glow plug system, or if its still using the original setup. The older 6.9 (except for 1987) has spade style connectors and a very unreliable controller that's prone to failing in the on position. The later 7.3 style glow plugs use a bullet connector and a much more reliable solid state controller.

And if the truck has a manual bypass switch, never hold the power on for more than 10 seconds.
 

IDIBRONCO

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The older 6.9 (except for 1987) has spade style connectors and a very unreliable controller that's prone to failing in the on position.
Plus it seems that they like to fail "on" during the coldest part of the winter. That's why I prefer the push button (actually a self returning toggle switch) on my 1985.
 
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