Glow plug broke. Need help.

[Ariley488]

Hey all. I have a 91 F250 7.3 IDI. I was replacing the glow plugs today and one of the glow plugs I removed has the very top broken off of it. What I wanted to know is if I need to do anything to remove this small piece. I'm not even sure if it broke off during removal or if it was like that. I'm Gonna try and post a picture so you can see how much broke off.

 

[Ariley488]

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[DaveBen]

Your photo did not post correctly.

Dave

 

[riotwarrior]

Go to advanced mode THEN add picture to post.

 

[Ariley488]

Glow Plug

 

[Ariley488]

there we go. thanks

 

[F350camper]

does the end show clean metal? or is it all soot-ed up like the sides?

 

[Ariley488]

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[Ariley488]

Which end? the glow end is all black the top end isn't. here are some more pics. its next to another glow plug i took out that didn't break.

 

[crash-harris]

The tip that broke off.

It looks like what's left of the broken one is black on the end. It may have broke off before you pulled it. I'll let someone else chime in on that though since I've only changed GP's once and was lucky that the Autolites I pulled didn't swell or break.

Only replace them with Motorcraft/Beru ZD9 glow plugs.

 

[Ariley488]

yea thats what I'm replacing them with. PO used autolite

 

[Ariley488]

and thats what I'm thinking. it was one of the ones that actually didn't give me much trouble. just pulled right out. as you can see the other one is pretty swelled as were many of the others.

 

[OLDBULL8]

That piece is small enough to go thru the pre cup hole into the cylinder. Only way to get it out, if it's still there, is to pull the injector and try to suck it out with a shop Vac, spritz of compressed air in the GP hole while sucking.

 

[MTKirk]

That piece is small enough to go thru the pre cup hole into the cylinder. Only way to get it out, if it's still there, is to pull the injector and try to suck it out with a shop Vac, spritz of compressed air in the GP hole while sucking.

Yes do this.

I'll add; try getting a magnet grabber down through the injector hole. Get one with a small shaft that you can bend, fish it around trying to pick up small metal bits. Also, make a little custom nozzle for a shop vac out of some clear vinyl hose that you can get down inside the cylinder. You might try a mirror (didn't work for me) or an inspection camera http://www.harborfreight.com/digital-inspection-camera-61839.html to get a look inside.

 

[lotzagoodstuff]

I would take something soft, like a toothpick or maybe a long wooden kabob skewer, mark it to the correct full depth of a known good glow plug, and VERY GENTLY see if you can feel down in the hole for the broken tip. If you find that your checker goes down past the full length length of the glow plug, then assume it broke off a while ago. If you find that it's broken off in the hole, then make a plan.

Always sad to hear that a Champion GP made a mess for somebody just trying to install a simple wear item

Good luck.