One of my glow plugs has failed and is causing alot of smoke and poor running on start up until warm. I went to have them changed but one of them just turned and would not come out. If this can be removed there will be no thread to screw the new one into. Is there some way of putting a new one in without leaving alot of sworf (ie new thread insert) in the engine?
Like you I think I'd be tempted to give it a go, but any swarf in the engine could spell disaster for the valves so garages wouldn't be keen to do this. The plug may come out if you can find some way of pulling upwards as you unscrew it - if it does come out there may be enough thread to pop a new one in. You could price up an exchange head from a breakers I guess, or ring up a few engineering shops to see what they say - they will have seen this before.
I haven't taken off a diesel Mondeo head yet but I have done petrols - they aren't so bad but you need to familiarise yourself with the camshaft timing marks before you get stuck in. Good luck with it!
John, March 2008
Hmm, i feared that! Might try and tackle it myself... Concidering doing everything with the head on then blowing it out with an adapted air line to get rid of the swarf .. Any other ideas?
How hard is it to remove the head on this engine?
Thanks for the reply John
Rossi, March 2008
Sadly the only correct way to sort this is to have the cylinder head removed, the old plug extracted and a helicoil insert fitted. Plastic metal, although good, can't really be expected to withstand diesel compression pressures.
