Installing glow plugs

[Erebus]

Wondering if anyone has any hints & tips for removing and installing glow plugs. I've got the new ones, part # MD092392, I've put some WD40 on the old ones, and plan to do the swap on Sunday. I've got a deep socket wrench that fits. Don't have a torque wrench, although I have the specs of 11-15 ft. lb. (1.5-2.0 kg/m or 15-20 newton meter) and some idea of how much that is.

Any advice?

Warm up the engine a bit first? Warm up to full operating temp? Do it cold?

When installing the new glowplugs, lubricate the threads? With what?

Thanks in advance.

[Artacoma]

Did mine awhile ago, just make sure you have a proper fitting socket and give yer motor a blast of compressed air or something before you start to make sure there are no dusty bits waiting to leap into your cylinders. I also used some conductive paste(sparingly) when reinstalling the electrical harness thingy. One of my old ones was sporting a bit of a crack but the others seemed ok so I kept em for spares.

cheers

[delicat]

I'd keep spraying them few hours before tackling your job and they have a tendency to break. As for 11-15lbs/torque it's not very much. If you were to hold your wrench closest to the socket end and torque it until it's nice and snug I'd say that's about it. I wouldn't hold it at the farthest end, you'll have too much leverage and increase torque. Or you could just buy a torque wrench, they do come handy and aren't that expensive if you don't need a pro one...

Good luck!

[Erebus]

give yer motor a blast of compressed air or something before you start to make sure there are no dusty bits waiting to leap into your cylinders.

Arrgghh. Why didn't I think of that before I glued it all together with WD40 yesterday?

I compressed-aired it today, then sprayed a bunch of Liquid Wrench on it. I'll do that again tomorrow when I get up, a couple of hours before starting work.

I know I could buy a torque wrench, never really needed one before. But that would take the challenge and risk out of it!

Thanks for the advice. Will let you know how it turns out.

[Erebus]

Waaahhoooo! It starts easily again

It took a little more torque than I really wanted to put on it to undo them, but they all came out. I'd estimate that it took 25-30 ft/lb of torque to undo them. I did it with a cold engine (engine block temp probably about +15).

The new ones went in just fine, hooked up the bus bar and wires. Then the moment of truth ... key to ign, wait for the 7 seconds or so until relay clicked off, turned the key and it started right up. Quite the difference from the 20 seconds of cranking yesterday.

While I was doing it, Green1 had a voltmeter on it. During the pre-start, it was 12 volts, dropped to zero, when it started it went to 6 volts for about 15 seconds then off. With the 3 old glow plugs, after start the relay would click on and off madly for about 30 seconds, with cycles of about 1/2 second on, 1.5 seconds off.

So I'm happy! I'll keep the 3 old ones as spares. Green1 says they are in pretty good shape. We broke the top threaded part off the other week, that's why I got new ones.

Thanks everyone for your advice.

[Green1]

During the pre-start, it was 12 volts, dropped to zero, when it started it went to 6 volts for about 15 seconds then off

actually it was 8 volts in pre-start and 5 post start. (remember, they are 6 volt plugs)