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Glow Plug Mode of Failure.

Hi Chaps and Chappesses.

I have suffered another glow plug failure :-( these wasn't the cheepo ones either :-(

But again one of the plugs (fed from common +ve rail) has gone down to earth, I cant recall if it was the same plug as last time as I didn't record which pot, but this time it is pot 2.

I'm a big aggrieved as this time it has frazzled some wires and to quote the RAC man that towed me home after vast amounts of smoke started to pour "oooooorrrrrr that's been on fire".

I'm wondering if there is any typical cause of glow plugs doing down to earth, rather than as IMX when they fail getting very high resistances.

Kind Regards

Tom

Reply to
Tom Burton
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perhaps you overtighten the electrical connector? I have never seen one short to earth.

Reply to
mrcheerful

I can send you a couple if you like?

Little more than finger tight contacts on both sides cleaned before fitting.

Dunno, perhaps its just bad luck, ill see what the spark says the'morrow.

Kind Regards

Tom Burton

Reply to
Tom Burton

I've never seen them short to earth either. The usual failure mode is open circuit.

It could also be that you've maybe overtightened the glow plug when fitting it. Overtightening the actual glow plug can cause the body of it to twist, which could lead to a short circuit condition.

Reply to
M Cuthill

the'morrow.

Nope, well I don't think so, they are again finger tight and nipped up as when I got the car is had suffered a seized-in snapped off plug which was a head off job and drilling out at the engineers job, an exercise I am anxious not to repeat.

I have ordered some Genuine Vx metal tipped (rather than the ceramic £27+vat a plug) plugs from Autovaux today, apparently they are new from Vx (as 4 ceramic tipped plugs are approaching the value of the car) with a decent warranty and the chap was happy enough to change them if need be.

Incidentally I must say that I always get great service from them guys

formatting link
- phone them the website is out of date. No affiliation.

I'll get the auto-spark to test everything else tomorrow as it needs a bit of re-wiring and new maxi-fuse holders.

Incidentally does coolant under any circumstance go sticky? I know it normally dries white/blue and powdery, but ever sticky?

Thanks All

Tom Burton

Reply to
Tom Burton

Has it melted or otherwise decayed?

Does your relay stick on?

mm,then again I'd expect them all to burn out if that happened.

-- Billy H

Reply to
Billy H

Was there any damage on the tip of the plug, the bit inside the cyl head. If you have a dodgy injector it can sometimes melt the glowplug.

JOhn

Reply to
John

I have never seen one short to earth either.

Reply to
Fred

the'morrow.

Nope, well I don't think so, they are again finger tight and nipped up as when I got the car is had suffered a seized-in snapped off plug which was a head off job and drilling out at the engineers job, an exercise I am anxious not to repeat.

I have ordered some Genuine Vx metal tipped (rather than the ceramic £27+vat a plug) plugs from Autovaux today, apparently they are new from Vx (as 4 ceramic tipped plugs are approaching the value of the car) with a decent warranty and the chap was happy enough to change them if need be.

Incidentally I must say that I always get great service from them guys

formatting link
- phone them the website is out of date. No affiliation.

I'll get the auto-spark to test everything else tomorrow as it needs a bit of re-wiring and new maxi-fuse holders.

Incidentally does coolant under any circumstance go sticky? I know it normally dries white/blue and powdery, but ever sticky?

Thanks All

Tom Burton

Reply to
Tom Burton

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