Discovan300tdi Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 Right chaps got a problem, went with a mate on saturday to look at a disco. he liked that much he brought it. Ive finally got him to get a decent 4x4 rather than his cherokee:) anyway as I'm not in work till tomorrow ,he asked me to give it a good service today, so I ve done that but heres a problem and I think I now know why his 1 owner low mileage 97 300 tdi disco was only £450 the glow plugs are fubar, took one out and half of it has stayed in the head, did the other 3 and they are all the same the seem to have snapped where the tip tapers down when you compare it to the new ones , so all the threaded part and the most of the solid wire core have come out it still starts its a bit lumpy ticking over at first but its ok when it warms up will the tips end up in the bores if he carries on using it till the weekend? so is there a way to get the tips out with out removing the head? or will I end up having to take the head off and doing it that way Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les Henson Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 There is a risk that bits will fall inside - I wouldn't start the engine if it was mine. The lumpyness is just not all cylinders firing straight away and they all catch up and it runs normally. It still sounds like he got a bargain though, given the low mileage. You can remove the head yourself and then get an engineering company to remove the remains of the glow plugs. Head gaskets are only about £20, so apart from whatever the engineers charge (£80 for cash maybe?), the repair is relatively cheap. Les. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Mills Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 Hi There, I have seen glow plugs without the tips before, they have just burnt away. If it were mine I would just put new ones in and forget it. Get good quality ones though they are only a few quid more, they last longer and don't fall to bits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Discovan300tdi Posted January 6, 2009 Author Share Posted January 6, 2009 cheers Les I shall taking the head off at the weekend and then dropping it off on monday at the place our gaffer uses for truck engine rebuilds ,told them the problem and he reckons its easy job and is going to give the head a crack test and a skim if its not cracked and its going to cost a couple of bottles of whisky, bargain in my books Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimAttrill Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 I have one broken one in my 300Tdi. It was a cheap County brand. They only last a year at the best and are not worth it. The other three I have are OEM BERU plugs, definitely worth it. They also seem to be made of decent steel. A good engineering shop should be able to get out the old bits, the difficulty is mounting the head at the right angle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BogMonster Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 We had a cheap and nasty glow plug in one of our company fleet Td5s snap off only a few weeks after it had been fitted and drop into the engine while it was running. It f**ed up the piston and the head, and on taking the head off we found a several inch long vertical crack in that cylinder which may or may not have been related. Made a bloody awful noise too, I was standing next to the vehicle when it happened, had just started it up and it was idling away and suddenly crunch bang donkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonk. Not nice. Ended up getting a new engine from Equicar as with needing a new head and a new block it was a bit like Triggers broom. So don't use them and don't risk losing a bit of an old one it ain't worth it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Discovan300tdi Posted January 11, 2009 Author Share Posted January 11, 2009 well I spent most of yesterday getting the head off, so will be dropping it in to the chap whos going to get the tips out in the morning, but I noticed on taking the pushrods out 2 of them were not as long as the rest and looked slightly bent, so I'm wondering if at somepoint the cam belt had snapped and they just hammered the pushrods straight, to get it running again and flog it quickly now I know why he got it so cheap Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveSIIA Posted January 11, 2009 Share Posted January 11, 2009 Worth checking all the pushrods while they are out. They are only a couple of quid a piece (p/n 546799), so it isn't the end of the world! Also, inspect the rockers and caps for the valves while you're at it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Discovan300tdi Posted January 13, 2009 Author Share Posted January 13, 2009 I picked the repaired head up this afternoon , the glowplug tips are out and have been re tapped aswell,plus its been crack tested and is crack free its been given a light skim to restore the flatness, and one of the valves has been replaced as the top was chipped where the rocker arm makes contact, wihich just happened to be the one that had the damaged pushrods and set of beru glow plugs and total cost was 2 l bottles of a 14 year old single malt I ve got a set of rockers off a spare engine that I'm going to use on it as they look in good nick been and ordered the head gasket , new head bolts and a set of pushrods from the main dealer as my mate said use the best parts you can get and they will be in on friday so saturday its put it all back together and finally get my drive back lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimAttrill Posted January 17, 2009 Share Posted January 17, 2009 Nice to see it coming together well with all bodges removed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Discovan300tdi Posted January 17, 2009 Author Share Posted January 17, 2009 Nice to see it coming together well with all bodges removed Thanks Jim well it runs spent from 9 o clock this morning till 2 pm with several tea breaks putting it all together had one daft moment when it came time to start it and it was just turning over and not starting, I had somehow pulled the wire off the stop soleniod Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimAttrill Posted January 17, 2009 Share Posted January 17, 2009 Thanks Jim well it runs spent from 9 o clock this morning till 2 pm with several tea breaks putting it all together had one daft moment when it came time to start it and it was just turning over and not starting, I had somehow pulled the wire off the stop soleniod I've done that a few times as well. Now it's the first thing I check .... Working on the basis of checking the easiest things first Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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