One of these 8 glow plugs.....

[fuzzydog]

One of these glow plugs, is not like the other ones
One of these glow plugs, doesn't belong.

Seven of these glow plugs, are made in Germany
One of these glow plugs, was made somewhere else.

If you still doubt that Autolite glow plugs really are that bad - look at this picture. 7 German made Beru plugs came out without a hitch. 1 freakin Autolite is broken off and the tip is still stuck in my head. ONE FREAKIN AUTOLITE GLOW PLUG. I don't think it is a coincidence that that is the one that broke.

At least, so far, it is still stuck in the head and hasn't dropped in. Your prayers are gratefully accepted.

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[86ford69jw]

I hate autolites! I broke a knuckle trying to remove one from the head without removing the head.

 

[OLDBULL8]

Didn't read this post about the GP tip. refer to your opther post. Bring that cyl. piston up to TDC so the GP tip doesn't drop in when trying to get it out. Good luck.

 

[subway]

thanks for positng a pic, nothing but the motorcraft/beru plugs for me.

 

[fuzzydog]

Thanks Oldbull, that is the plan for tonight - to get that cyl up to TDC before I do anything else. I have a super powerful shop vac (bissell garage pro) and shop air so that sucker is coming out without the head coming off.

I didn't check last night - do they have enough steel content to be attracted to magnets? I was thinking of epoxying a rare earth magnet to a flexible wand and using that to pick up pieces through the injector hole.

 

[86ford69jw]

I did the crazy way your are not suppose to do. I had no air and was not gunna pull the head. I started the truck and use a screw driver and hammer to push the broken gp into the cyclinder and then it shot out. This wokred a few times. Until the screwdriver got stuck and when I went to grab it and it shot out along with the broken gp and the gp hit me in the knuckle. I thought no biggie jsut a lil drop of blood. When I got up the next morning I couldnt bend my fingernad there is still a lil bump where it broke the bone and slid it over. Needless to say I wont be doing this anymore.

 

[Double-S-Diesel]

Im no help here, when I had the GP broke off off came the head. figured that was better thatn risk any other damage

 

[sassyrel]

I did the crazy way your are not suppose to do. I had no air and was not gunna pull the head. I started the truck and use a screw driver and hammer to push the broken gp into the cyclinder and then it shot out. This wokred a few times. Until the screwdriver got stuck and when I went to grab it and it shot out along with the broken gp and the gp hit me in the knuckle. I thought no biggie jsut a lil drop of blood. When I got up the next morning I couldnt bend my fingernad there is still a lil bump where it broke the bone and slid it over. Needless to say I wont be doing this anymore.

heres the que tho..would you rather have been pulling the head to get it out??? that aint no tea party!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i had the outside of the gp unscrew on mine!!! i thought about how to get it out,for two weeks!!!! without the engine running,and kroil in the gp hole, i looked at a used gp,,to see how far to drive it down,,before it would fall in..i stopped short of that,,and i could just get a small needle nose vg on it...started to twist and pull slow,,and out it came!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! damn was i happy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i thought about doing it your way,,and i still think thats good option..you just have to be damn careful!!!!!

 

[86ford69jw]

Its works but its not the safest thing to do. Dagum autlites!! I stoped using them the first time this happend. I bought some berus and there were fine til I went to Mi for thanksgiving and it was 11deg and I didnt plug the truck in. It started but it was rough. The next day it wouldnt even fire. So I checked the gps and sure enought there were toast. I went to the closet parts store. (napa) and all the had was aoutlite. My dad offerd to buy them and I told him they were junk but he insited. I put them in an the first try they burnt right up. Pull started the truck and drove back to Indian and all 8 of the gps were swollen and stuck.

 

[Late_99_psd]

I put autolites in my truck 2 years ago. Not even a year later they had gone out and I was back in there changing them out for motorcraft plugs. Thank God they didn't break off in the head.

 

[fuzzydog]

Well, it is still in there, I've been soaking it and working on it off and on but tonight is do or die. Bought myself a needle point vice grip and made an attachment screw to put my slide hammer onto it. We'll see how that goes. I am a bit worried about pulling the center out of the plug but that seems unlikely to happen based on what I have read on the net.

Funny thing is that I tried to take apart a beru glow plug to see what I am dealing with on the inside and I couldn't get that sucker to come apart. By contrast the autolite that is in the head came apart just from looking at it wrong.

The cylinder is at TDC so if it all goes wrong I still have a chance by removing the injector and trying to fish it out that way.

 

[86ford69jw]

Good luck brother!

 

[OLDBULL8]

Sure would like to know if you got that GP out and how it came out. Would be good info for the rest of us.

 

[fuzzydog]

Well....as of right now it is still in there. I decided a few days ago that the head had to come off but I let friends talk me into keeping on trying.
We tried everything - eventually dropped the cyl down and knocked the tip in.
Then we tried a small magnet through the injector hole(confirmed it was strong enough to pick up a glow plug tip by testing on the bench) and could never even seem to get hold of it.
Tried a shop vac with a section of small tubing on the end and shoved it down the injector hole, moved it around hoping to latch onto the tip with suction. We also confirmed this would work by testing on a glow plug tip on the bench. Still no love.
I have started taking things apart to remove the head. Once I got the alternator and bracket off I was very pleasantly surprised at how easy this is going to be - the head is right there, easy pickings. I should have taken the head off right from the get go and I would be done by now. I think my biggest issue is going to be the exhaust manifold bolts as they are in very bad shape. I will first try to remove the head with the manifold attached.

I am a pretty mechanically inclined guy and have done lots of major automotive work and a lot of bubble gum/baling wire/emergency repairs and fixes. While I have to admit that it might be possible to get a glow plug tip out via an injector hole on a powerstroke, it would only happen if the planets align the right way and you manage to snag the tip by accident.

 

[OLDBULL8]

Sorry to hear you have to go to all that work.