3B + Broken Glow Plug Tip :( (1 Viewer)

[bjhoudini]

82 BJ42 + 3B. About two months ago I put in a new set of glow plugs. About two days ago I noticed that the engine was getting harder to start after sitting overnight. Engine starts fine when warmed up. Last night when I started the rig I heard a loose metal sound that at the time I thought it was my transfer case not being fully engaged. I drove the rig yesterday evening and today and didn't notice anything out of the ordinary other than the hard starting in the morning. I thought the hard starting might have been a result of cooler weather that is setting in however I decided to pull the glow plugs to check them. Tonight when I pulled the glow plug in the number two cylinder I noticed that half of the tip was missing. It looks like the tip is broken off not melted. Now it is possible that the tip broke upon the removal of the glow plug however I am not fully sure.

I am certainly not going to start the engine now. Is my best option to pull the head or are there other suggestions of clever techniques for retrieving broken glow plug tips out of the head? Please let me know your thoughts.

Thanks,

 

[duncanrm]

A thin stick with a nice dab of grease on the end might fish it out.. but its doubtful.. The hole is quite small, I havent seen a borescope that size yet..

 

[roscoFJ73]

Attach a small tube to the vacuum cleaner hose.

 

[cruisedeisel]

Flip your truck upside down and shake it

 

[gerg]

Wow man if you hear metal clanking you can completely lunch your engine! A 5mm bore scope will fit.ive done it many times. Good chance it's stuck in the precup chamber....hopefully. I'd be getting ready to pull the head just in case.

 

[bjhoudini]

Wow man if you hear metal clanking you can completely lunch your engine! A 5mm bore scope will fit.ive done it many times. Good chance it's stuck in the precup chamber....hopefully. I'd be getting ready to pull the head just in case.

Thanks for the response. I have a borescope on the way. Fingers crossed.

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

The glow plug tips broke off in my cylinder head when I first changed them (previous owner had over heated them and the ends had got too large).

Anyhow, I was able to get them out without removing the cylinder head. It was a lot of work though. If I remember correct i drilled or picked out the heating element from the inside and vacuumed out some white powder that was in there too. Then I tapped the inside of the glow plug tip. Then I made a puller that threaded into the glow plug tip, and allowed me to turn a nut outside the head to slowly extract the tip. Actually worked really well. Definitely easier than pulling the head.

Just probe down the glow plug hole very gently with a piece of wire to see if the tip is still in there. Compare to one of the cylinders where the glow plug came out whole.

Was it hard to remove that particular glow plug? Mine were really hard right before they broke....

 

[bjhoudini]

The glow plug tips broke off in my cylinder head when I first changed them (previous owner had over heated them and the ends had got too large).

Anyhow, I was able to get them out without removing the cylinder head. It was a lot of work though. If I remember correct i drilled or picked out the heating element from the inside and vacuumed out some white powder that was in there too. Then I tapped the inside of the glow plug tip. Then I made a puller that threaded into the glow plug tip, and allowed me to turn a nut outside the head to slowly extract the tip. Actually worked really well. Definitely easier than pulling the head.

Just probe down the glow plug hole very gently with a piece of wire to see if the tip is still in there. Compare to one of the cylinders where the glow plug came out whole.

Was it hard to remove that particular glow plug? Mine were really hard right before they broke....

Nope, each glow plug came out without issue. Only one glow plug had a broken tip all the others look brand new. I probed down into the glow plug hole and didn't see the tip in question. Being that I drove it for almost two days before I noticed I had an issue I decided to fire up the rig and it is running great. I wonder where the glow plug tip is? What are the chances that this tip cleared via the exhaust outlet? I hate to pull the head for nothing.

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

Nope, each glow plug came out without issue. Only one glow plug had a broken tip all the others look brand new. I probed down into the glow plug hole and didn't see the tip in question. Being that I drove it for almost two days before I noticed I had an issue I decided to fire up the rig and it is running great. I wonder where the glow plug tip is? What are the chances that this tip cleared via the exhaust outlet? I hate to pull the head for nothing.

How large is the piece that is missing? I'm trying to remember how large the hole in the pre-cup is. Probably large enough for the tip to enter the cylinder. It may have bounced around a bit and then exited. Hopefully your piston/head don't have a bunch of dents from it. Easy thing to do would be check compression and make sure it's still ok. If it were me I'd be pretty tempted to pull the head at this point and check everything out.