Stuck glow plug tip help needed

[mikazza]

I have a Peugeot Partner 1.6 HDI which I recently bought and noticed when starting it would start ok but would run badly for 20 secs of so with a lot of white smoke coming out the exhaust. I've found the problem, one of the glow plugs has been snapped off and the tip is stuck in the engine, so far i've tried spraying down some WD40 and running the engine up to heat to see if it will fire out, never worked. I then managed to knock the tip slightly further into the engine to try free the corrosion and sprayed some Plus Gas and taking the car for a good run revving the engine as much as I could this never worked either.

I have another couple of ideas I found on google:

1. Knock the piece into the engine and attempt to fish it out via the injector hole with a magnet.

2. Take off the other 3 glow plugs, remove the injector plugs and disable the ignition and turn over the engine creating a lot of compression in the plugged up cylinder which will hopefully fire the piece out, i've made a catch can made out of all food cans which I can put over the hole along with a load of rags to catch the piece.

3. Buy an extractor which might work, might not, would rather try the free options 1st.

I would rather go with option 2 but have a couple of questions, should I do this and pressurise the cylinder and the piece doesn't come out, will the pressure dissipate by itself, last thing I want to do is cause another problem.

Does anybody have any other suggestions, would you recommend option 2?

[Classy6]

mikazza said:

I have a Peugeot Partner 1.6 HDI which I recently bought and noticed when starting it would start ok but would run badly for 20 secs of so with a lot of white smoke coming out the exhaust. I've found the problem, one of the glow plugs has been snapped off and the tip is stuck in the engine, so far i've tried spraying down some WD40 and running the engine up to heat to see if it will fire out, never worked. I then managed to knock the tip slightly further into the engine to try free the corrosion and sprayed some Plus Gas and taking the car for a good run revving the engine as much as I could this never worked either.

I have another couple of ideas I found on google:

1. Knock the piece into the engine and attempt to fish it out via the injector hole with a magnet.

2. Take off the other 3 glow plugs, remove the injector plugs and disable the ignition and turn over the engine creating a lot of compression in the plugged up cylinder which will hopefully fire the piece out, i've made a catch can made out of all food cans which I can put over the hole along with a load of rags to catch the piece.

3. Buy an extractor which might work, might not, would rather try the free options 1st.

I would rather go with option 2 but have a couple of questions, should I do this and pressurise the cylinder and the piece doesn't come out, will the pressure dissipate by itself, last thing I want to do is cause another problem.

Does anybody have any other suggestions, would you recommend option 2?

Can't really see how number 2 can create more compression unless I'm missing something?

Number 1, glow plugs tend to use ceramic tips - no idea if they're magnetic or not? If you have a replacement glow plug, check it on that first some use steel I believe. Also Injector holes are very small, you would need to be able to pick the tip up on the end in order to get it out, all the while it would need to be somewhere in the middle of the chamber because of the length of the injector bore.

Extractor or removing the head are the only ways I've ever dealt with snapped glowplugs.

Good Luck - Right pain in the ass when a 2 minute jobs turns into this!

[mikazza]

Thanks for that, I wasn't sure if the compression would be more by cranking over the engine, the tips are steel and stick to a magnet.

I think the best bet is to get an extraction kit and try to remove it that way, can always sell the kit on if it doesn't work, and then try the magnet route and last option remove the head, could also take this chance to replace the timing belt and water pump if it comes to it.

Yeah is a pain in the ass, worst part is some mechanic in the past before I owned the car has broken the tip and just put the plug back in, would have been a bit easier to take if it was me the broke it

[E-bmw]

What exactly do you mean by the phrase "in the engine" surely you don't mean in the combustion chamber as surely nobody would be daft enough to turn over a diesel engine with the metal end of a glow plug in the combustion chamber?

[mikazza]

Its stuck in the hole it's meant to be in not in the chamber, i've ordered a removal kit hopefully i'll be able to pull it out with that.

[227bhp]

I'd check they are magnetic, they look like SS to me or like the chap says, ceramic. I think head will be coming off.
I also think it's possible you have another problem too from your description.

Edited by 227bhp on Saturday 10th February 12:23

[mikazza]

Thanks for all the help, got the stuck tip removed without taking the head off, had to dismantle a whole load of stuff on the top of the engine but got there eventually.



One of the bits I took off was the air intake manifold which is a big plastic thing that sits on top of the engine, it was 70% blocked with EGR crud, removed the whole EGR system and the whole lot was caked in this stuff, cleaned it all off which was a nightmare, tried a good few products from under the sink and nothing would move it, eventually tried something called Elbow Grease Spray, worked a treat, got everything re-built today and its now running perfectly. It was the first glow plug closest to the pipe where the EGR connects that got stuck and the air intake on this part was nearly completely blocked, I wonder if this is why the plug got stuck in the first place.

Ordered a blanking plate for the EGR so I don't have to worry about this again.

[MacF]

So I now have a Peugeot 207 with a similar problem - 1.6 hdi engine, broken no.1 cylinder glow plug, around 10-15 mm of snapped off electrode holding onto the bottom of the glow plug aperture.

Did not like the cost of the tip removal kits as I've never encountered the problem before and might not in the future. I was planning to knock it into the piston crown and go fishing with a narrow 5.5 mm magnet inserted via the injector aperture. The dealer said it would not work and the head needs to come off - you appear to have the answer - any detail on how you extracted the tip out would be appreciated.

[davidjhale]

mikazza said:

Thanks for all the help, got the stuck tip removed without taking the head off, had to dismantle a whole load of stuff on the top of the engine but got there eventually.



One of the bits I took off was the air intake manifold which is a big plastic thing that sits on top of the engine, it was 70% blocked with EGR crud, removed the whole EGR system and the whole lot was caked in this stuff, cleaned it all off which was a nightmare, tried a good few products from under the sink and nothing would move it, eventually tried something called Elbow Grease Spray, worked a treat, got everything re-built today and its now running perfectly. It was the first glow plug closest to the pipe where the EGR connects that got stuck and the air intake on this part was nearly completely blocked, I wonder if this is why the plug got stuck in the first place.

Ordered a blanking plate for the EGR so I don't have to worry about this again.

What removal kit did you use? And what engine was it? Any tips on using the removal kit?

[Grayedout]

mikazza said:

Ordered a blanking plate for the EGR so I don't have to worry about this again.

You will need the ECU re-mapping as well to remove the ECU functionality or it will cause an error.

[Oldandslow]

Borescope down the glow plug port. Magnet probe down the injector port?

[StescoG66]

Soak daily with a releasing/penetrating oil for a few days and it should loosen off.

[Evoluzione]

In the three yrs since he posted I think it'll be sorted by now.

[davidjhale]

For anyone with a stuck glow plug tip in and around the midlands (east midlands airport area)

These guys have a mobile mechanic who does this day in and out for the local garages.

Address: 51 Derby Rd, Borrowash, Derby DE72 3HA
Hours:
Open ⋅ Closes 5:30PM
Phone: [phone]