If you can get it started with the glowplugs loose that wont come out, lay a piece of plywood ofer the engine and run it and it may blow them out.
Sometimes it takes a while.
Sometimes it takes a while.
""Need advice desperately!!!""
- Thread starter TIMOTHY THOMAS
- Start date
lakesurfer
Registered User
I used the low budget version of RWK's solution not long ago: Instead of a fancy tool, I used a long skinny drywall screw. Once it was gently screwed in, I gently worked it back and forth. When it came out, the neighbors 3 houses down could hear the hooping and hollering.
DWJTX
Registered User
I agree with david85, use Beru (best) or even Motocaft, all others can be trouble. I used local parts house junk 1 time and the tip broke off in the cylinder. Beru won't do that.
Macrobb
Full Access Member
Yeah, motorcraft all the way. As I acquire new JY motors and trucks, I keep finding Autolites. Sometimes swelled, almost always dead.
The Beru design is just plain a higher quality plug(less moisture in the plug tip itself, so it doesn't swell when hot), and they can take a higher than rated voltage for a lot longer than anything else.
Also, as most here know, the 7.3-style controller looks at the total current that all 8 glow plugs draw to determine how hot they are(as a glow plug gets hot, it draws less power - like an incandescent light bulb). So, if a single plug dies, the rest of the set won't get nearly as hot.
In addition, as the 7.3 controllers get old, the "current comparison" circuit inside seems to drift towards the "plugs are hotter already" side, and will tend to short cycle.
(I modified the resistor on one and got it back within spec)
The Beru design is just plain a higher quality plug(less moisture in the plug tip itself, so it doesn't swell when hot), and they can take a higher than rated voltage for a lot longer than anything else.
Also, as most here know, the 7.3-style controller looks at the total current that all 8 glow plugs draw to determine how hot they are(as a glow plug gets hot, it draws less power - like an incandescent light bulb). So, if a single plug dies, the rest of the set won't get nearly as hot.
In addition, as the 7.3 controllers get old, the "current comparison" circuit inside seems to drift towards the "plugs are hotter already" side, and will tend to short cycle.
(I modified the resistor on one and got it back within spec)
Tbone55
Registered User
I had autolites in mine when I bought it. It was giving me no start problems. 1 was swollen and broke off. I tried and tried to pull it with different tricks but did not work. I pushed it through and used a shop vac through the injector hole and 150psi air through the gp hole. I made sure I emptied the vaccum first. About 10 min I checked and it worked.
jwalterus
Made in America
Advice:
Pull the heads and stud it while you're in there.
Pull the heads and stud it while you're in there.
DrCharles
Full Access Member
Because that's such a quick and easy thing to do while you're replacing glow plugs? 
(If there's one dropped in the cylinder that won't come out, then the head has to come off anyway, of course).
(If there's one dropped in the cylinder that won't come out, then the head has to come off anyway, of course).
Hello,
This is unrelated to your engine issue instead might help with your cataract. If you go to the start button on your computer and left click then scroll down you will see Windows Ease of Access, click on that and you will find Magnifier which should help you see.
P.S. Hope the bold helps you see better. Could not find a way to increase the font size.
This is unrelated to your engine issue instead might help with your cataract. If you go to the start button on your computer and left click then scroll down you will see Windows Ease of Access, click on that and you will find Magnifier which should help you see.
P.S. Hope the bold helps you see better. Could not find a way to increase the font size.
When you are typing your message in, look at the options at the top.
One of the options is a Letter "T" With an up/down arrow to the right of it. That one is for font size.
When you use it, highlight what you want to be increased in size. Then select that option, and choose a number.
Watch what you have highlighted because it will immediately be increased in size. This way, you can get exactly the size you want by watching rather than by guessing.
Macrobb
Full Access Member
Also, to prevent the rest of us from having to look at HUGE TEXT, use Ctrl key and + on your keyboard to magnify your web browser. Also it's usually a menu item(View->Zoom on my Firefox install).
Yup.
In fact, I am viewing this page at 130 percent size, right now. Always have. Because of old eyes...
The setting that you do, using ctrl key and + or _ on the keyboard, (or the scroll wheel on the mouse)... Stays the same on that website, until you change it again.
It does not affect other websites. So you can set each website to the size you need, and leave it.
You'll find that it also affects other things. Such as pics. And if the page has frames, like left middle and right frames, those will be affected, and sometimes lost altogether.
CEDRICWARD
Registered User
Tim T
I have a 1985 F350 6.9 dually crewcab
About 20 years ago my glow plugs stayed on and burnt up.
Probably that controller issue stated above.
I didn't know much about diesels when I first got this one so I learned along the way.
Because I was on a trip and basically far from cities in Idaho when it happened I had to use ether to start the truck. Not knowing that is not good for the engine I continued to use it for a long time. When I finally pulled the glow plugs one broke off and not wanting to push the remnant into the cylinder, I just put the top part back in and continued to run with one dead plug.
No problems for YEARS!
Finally got a head gasket leak and had to pull the heads.
You probably won't have any problem running with two dead plugs.
These engines start without the plugs heating if the engine is at or above 160 degrees so a block heater would help if you plugged it in before you were going to start the cold engine.
Everything else others have told you is your only other solution without pulling the heads.
I think putting the cylinders involved at TDC, removing the injector for that cylinder and pushing the glowplug remnant into the cylinder and trying to blow it out with compressed air is a good option. But...if that doesn't work, then you have to pull the head to get that remnant out. That is a nasty job. The heads are very heavy (I used an engine hoist to lift mine out).
It is recommended to use new head bolts and they cost me $17 each back in the early 2000s.
Best solution is just to leave it alone with the top of the bad glow plugs screwed in with no electricity to them.
Of course, I'm cheap and learn everything the hard way the first time.
I do now research the problem first on the internet and manuals.
But sometimes you have to make do with what you have at the time if you're broken down far from help.
Best of luck
I have a 1985 F350 6.9 dually crewcab
About 20 years ago my glow plugs stayed on and burnt up.
Probably that controller issue stated above.
I didn't know much about diesels when I first got this one so I learned along the way.
Because I was on a trip and basically far from cities in Idaho when it happened I had to use ether to start the truck. Not knowing that is not good for the engine I continued to use it for a long time. When I finally pulled the glow plugs one broke off and not wanting to push the remnant into the cylinder, I just put the top part back in and continued to run with one dead plug.
No problems for YEARS!
Finally got a head gasket leak and had to pull the heads.
You probably won't have any problem running with two dead plugs.
These engines start without the plugs heating if the engine is at or above 160 degrees so a block heater would help if you plugged it in before you were going to start the cold engine.
Everything else others have told you is your only other solution without pulling the heads.
I think putting the cylinders involved at TDC, removing the injector for that cylinder and pushing the glowplug remnant into the cylinder and trying to blow it out with compressed air is a good option. But...if that doesn't work, then you have to pull the head to get that remnant out. That is a nasty job. The heads are very heavy (I used an engine hoist to lift mine out).
It is recommended to use new head bolts and they cost me $17 each back in the early 2000s.
Best solution is just to leave it alone with the top of the bad glow plugs screwed in with no electricity to them.
Of course, I'm cheap and learn everything the hard way the first time.
I do now research the problem first on the internet and manuals.
But sometimes you have to make do with what you have at the time if you're broken down far from help.
Best of luck
Back to the original reason for the thread...
Cedric covered it pretty good.
To add to what he said, were I in your shoes right now... I would tape up the connectors for the plugs that you had problems with, and run it. (Tape them up to keep them from accidentally grounding somewhere.)
Checking EVERY time you get out of the truck, to see... Maybe they'll just get blown out of the engine by the compression.
Keep the replacements in the truck along with the correct socket set. So if they get blown out, you can plug the hole up with the right GP right away.
Cedric covered it pretty good.
To add to what he said, were I in your shoes right now... I would tape up the connectors for the plugs that you had problems with, and run it. (Tape them up to keep them from accidentally grounding somewhere.)
Checking EVERY time you get out of the truck, to see... Maybe they'll just get blown out of the engine by the compression.
Keep the replacements in the truck along with the correct socket set. So if they get blown out, you can plug the hole up with the right GP right away.
Similar threads
