Methods to remove swollen glow plugs

[Mastiff]

What have you guys done to get them out? I have one swollen one that will unscrew all the way, but won't pull out. I haven't really pulled because this is my only transportation right now...

How hard is safe to pull?

Anyone tried a tool like this? http://jjandaracing.com/en-us/dept_9.html

Some guys on another forum actually suggested unscrewing the GP and then firing up the engine to blow the plug out. Another guy said that in the Army they'd just bust them off and leave the bits in.

Any ideas would be great. I'm trying to fire this poor beast up in 0-10F weather these days and it's not happy. I'd rather have all 8 GP's.

 

[imiceman44]

What have you guys done to get them out? I have one swollen one that will unscrew all the way, but won't pull out. I haven't really pulled because this is my only transportation right now...

How hard is safe to pull?

Anyone tried a tool like this? http://jjandaracing.com/en-us/dept_9.html

Some guys on another forum actually suggested unscrewing the GP and then firing up the engine to blow the plug out. Another guy said that in the Army they'd just bust them off and leave the bits in.

Any ideas would be great. I'm trying to fire this poor beast up in 0-10F weather these days and it's not happy. I'd rather have all 8 GP's.

I know one way is to remove the injector and fish the piece out, but I have no recollection of the other methods I read before...

 

[romeolimagolf]

I know one way is to remove the injector and fish the piece out, but I have no recollection of the other methods I read before...

This is the method I used in the Marines. It works every time.

 

[Mastiff]

This is the method I used in the Marines. It works every time.

Do you try and pull first, to see if it breaks? Or do you remove the injector as soon as it seems stuck? This way you can plug the hole to the cylinder to prevent junk from going down there.

I'm tempted to fire it up and see if it blows out. Another person told me to do that.

 

[romeolimagolf]

Do you try and pull first, to see if it breaks? Or do you remove the injector as soon as it seems stuck? This way you can plug the hole to the cylinder to prevent junk from going down there.

I'm tempted to fire it up and see if it blows out. Another person told me to do that.

I would clamp a small vise grip on the end of the glow plug as tight as I could get it. I would then use a large flat-head screwdriver and attempt to pry out the glow plug by prying against the vise grip. Sometimes it would come out with out breaking, sometimes it wouldn't. If I didn't have a pair of vise grips handy, I would break off the glow plug on propose and fish it out through the injector hole with a pair of Hemostats. The Hemostats work the best because they lock and you can get them in different angles. You can get them at most fishing supply stores.

 

[MaxPF]

IF you take the injector out and look in the hole you will be able to see the tip of the glow plug in the prechamber. Directly beneath it is the hole in the precup that leads to the cylinder. Cut yourself out a piece of duct tape big enough to completely cover the port leading to the cylinder (make sure it is big enough that it doesn't fall into the port!), poke it through the injector hole and cover the port, and then try to extract the plug. That way, if the tip breaks off it won't get into the cylinder since the tape is blocking the passage - you can use the hemostat to fish the piece(s) out. Then remove the tape from the prechamber, replace the injector and plug, and you're set.

 

[BKinzey]

What I did was un-screw and put vice grips on the plug. Start the motor Grab the vice grips, with gloves, eye protection, and push inward. You get a jackhammer effect which will pound out the plug. Then I removed the injector and turned the engine over, or started for a second or two, to blow out any crap. Re-install the injector and new plug.

Might want to consider hearing protection as this is noisy!

Read about this solution in a couple of places and several posts before I decided to try it myself and it worked on the swollen plug I was having problems with.

 

[BKinzey]

Just looked at the link. I've heard those tools work well. I was going to buy one until I found the jackhammer technique.

 

[cegusman]

When I removed mine I pulled the injector. Had someone hold a shop vac to the hole and then forcefully broke the injector head and it was suck out via the injector port.

 

[maynardogle]

I had six swollen ones and I got em all out with 4" vice grips and WD-40. I just rotated them + & - about 45 degrees while pulling on the hex with the grips. It took several twists for each one.