She swallowed a glow plug

94NAIDI · May 18, 2023

As the title states. My 1994 7.3 IDI NA swallowed a broken tip from a glow plug. It ended up in the combustion chamber and made a hell of a racket. So then the tear down commenced. I pulled the engine and now have the heads off. I removed the broken piece. It only put a small indentation in the top of the piston so I assume that is still usable. I live in the rust belt, so I’m going to pull the oil pan as well to make sure there are no potential weak points from rust. My question is, is there any other things I should do for good insurance while the engine is out? Like oil pump etc…I don’t want to spend a lot of unnecessary money, but if there are certain things worth replacing while it’s apart, I don’t mind. But if the factory oil pumps don’t fail, then I wouldn’t want to waste the time and money. I appreciate any and all advice. I damn sure don’t want to pull this engine again. That was not fun. The truck has 225,000 miles on it. I assume that is accurate for the engine as well. No obvious signs of being out previously.

Rdnck84_03 · May 18, 2023

I would definitely do the rear main seal.

James

chillman88 · May 18, 2023

I've always heard the oil pumps last forever on these things. If you have any intention of ever running a turbo now would be a great time to stud the heads.

Check the valve guides for wear while the heads are off, maybe lap the valves if you can't afford a valve job?

I'm sure someone else will have more insight.

Black dawg · May 18, 2023

What glow plug brand?
would be a good time to do oil cooler and re seal the pan if it is leaking at all.
Rear main seal and front seal.

DaveBen · May 18, 2023

Use Beru glow plugs (or Motorcraft) ONLY! The others can and will break.

AndrewLinderman · May 18, 2023

I would just seal the whole thing. Front main, rear main, oil cooler, Etc.

Might want head studs or valve springs if planning for turbo.

Bearings should be replaced. For $200 ish it is well worth replacing them

94NAIDI · May 19, 2023

The glow plug brand was Motorcraft ZD 9s. I purchased them January 2023 from Rockauto one month after purchasing the truck. Had them in for around 2.5 months. Watched a YouTube video where they were warning about counterfeit Motorcraft glow plugs. So I decided to pull one and check if it was correct by comparing the crimps on the top. Funny thing is the crimps appeared to be correct but that first one was white on the end and swollen. So I decided to pull them all and every single one was swollen. I was able to get them all out except the one. It was so bad the very tip broke off. I either have the best counterfeit glow plugs on the market or the worst luck. I’m still trying to figure out why this happened. The only thing I can think of is sometimes I would get impatient and start the truck before the end of the glow plug cycle when the truck was already warmed up. Maybe that caused them to get to hot. If anyone knows why my supposed Motorcraft glow plugs went bad after only 2.5 months, I’d love to hear it. I can’t afford to do this again.

94NAIDI · May 19, 2023

The front and rear main seals are a great idea. I already am doing the oil pan and actually decided yesterday to do the oil cooler while it was off. Thanks for that advice. Sounds like I can skip the oil pump, that helps. No plans for a turbo. That was my original plan but everyone around me wants to much money for a complete kit. When you say bearings, are you referring to main and rod bearings? I wasn’t wanting to go that deep into it unless absolutely necessary. I did check them for play and nothing felt lose. Not that that is a true way of checking but there weren’t any funny noises in the engine before the incident. The valves seem to be in good shape but lapping them wouldn’t hurt. My seal kit came with new valve seals, so while out, might as well.

Nero · May 19, 2023

Just to throw it out there, maybe hit up Russ (typ4) here on the forums, he usually has good deals for turbo kits.

Black dawg · May 19, 2023

get us some pictures of the plugs.

IDIBRONCO · May 19, 2023

94NAIDI said:
The glow plug brand was Motorcraft ZD 9s. I purchased them January 2023 from Rockauto one month after purchasing the truck. Had them in for around 2.5 months. Watched a YouTube video where they were warning about counterfeit Motorcraft glow plugs. So I decided to pull one and check if it was correct by comparing the crimps on the top. Funny thing is the crimps appeared to be correct but that first one was white on the end and swollen. So I decided to pull them all and every single one was swollen. I was able to get them all out except the one. It was so bad the very tip broke off. I either have the best counterfeit glow plugs on the market or the worst luck. I’m still trying to figure out why this happened. The only thing I can think of is sometimes I would get impatient and start the truck before the end of the glow plug cycle when the truck was already warmed up. Maybe that caused them to get to hot. If anyone knows why my supposed Motorcraft glow plugs went bad after only 2.5 months, I’d love to hear it. I can’t afford to do this again.

This is why I'm strongly considering switching to the Bosch glow plugs.

94NAIDI said:
I wasn’t wanting to go that deep into it unless absolutely necessary. I did check them for play and nothing felt lose.

I'd remove at least one main cap and rod cap to look at the bearings. If they look good, I'd put them back.

94NAIDI · May 22, 2023

Sorry for the delayed responses. I have a very busy and random schedule. So it’s difficult for me to get on the forum. Here are the pictures of the two glow plugs I have left from the bad batch. One is the infamous broken one which I’ll probably keep as a reminder of crappy products and the other I was using to test the hardness of the tip. I was just curious. So ignore the dent on the end of it. This one is actually in decent shape compared to the white crusty stuff and swollen ends the others had. I believe I threw the others away already.

94NAIDI · May 22, 2023

These do appear to me to have the correct markings as well as the correct crimp. But I’m no expert. The packaging they came in looked legit. Here’s a picture of the piece of the tip I dug out of the top of my piston.

94NAIDI · May 22, 2023

The new plugs I ordered for when the engine goes back together are Motorcraft ZD 29. But if there is a better option, I’m all for trying it. I’m so worried about this happening again, I went ahead and ordered a new Motorcraft glow plug module and relay as a complete unit just in case it was acting up and leaving them on for too long.

Black dawg · May 22, 2023

Those do look to be genuine motorcraft beru plugs to me.

Ever had a timing meter on this engine? Have you been around enough of these to know if it sounds normal or not?

She swallowed a glow plug

94NAIDI

Registered User

Rdnck84_03

Full Access Member

chillman88

Supporting Member

Black dawg

Registered User

DaveBen

Supporting Member

AndrewLinderman

Registered User

94NAIDI

Registered User

94NAIDI

Registered User

Nero

HD Diesel nut

Black dawg

Registered User

IDIBRONCO

IDIBRONCO

94NAIDI

Registered User

Attachments

94NAIDI

Registered User

Attachments

94NAIDI

Registered User

Black dawg

Registered User

Similar threads

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Staff online

Members online

Share this page