removing mushroomed glow plugs on a 6.2?

[moturbopar]

Hi all my friend has a 6.2 suburban he just bought. It is hard to start in the morning, so we are trying to change the glow plugs. The problem is they are 11gs and 3 of them ar muchroomed in the head. Is there a way to get these things out without having them fall apart in the head? Is there a special tool to remove them?
Thanks

 

[darkshadow]

snap them and use a magnet to get the pieces, most dont even try to take them out they just hit then with a chisel.

i have even hurd or guy cranking the moter and getting them out the back side, but I wouldent do that personaly.

search in the diesel forum, this has been discust a lot of time!

 

[moturbopar]

Thanks. I tried searching but couldnt find anything. We pulled out one of the other glow plugs and it was completely burnt away.

 

[darkshadow]

in search i find the advance seach works better and you can narrow the search to a singel or a group of forum makes it faster to find stuff that is spesific, ie diesel

 

[darkshadow]

did a search

I had 2 that were stuck. I pulled the injectors for those 2, held a shop vac to the injector hole in the head, unsrewed the glow plug and forcefully broke the glow plug inhalf. The shop vac caught the 2 broken ends.

I just took the GP's out of the 6.2 going in my trail truck and 6 out of 8 were mushroomed, one was broken off and one was ok. There was no trace of the one that was broken in the cylinder, I guess its gone like a fart in the wind. The other 6, I ended up knocking the threaded end off with a hammer and fishing the broken tip out with a set of long needle nose pliers and a magnet on a stick. It worked well and went about as fast as I could expect

also a glow plug removel tool http://www.jjandaracing.com/

The glowplug I had that wouldn't come out was able to unscrew completely. I broke a few others in the vise and they broke off cleanly at the base of the threads. Did some rough measurements and decided that it would come out the injector hole. Ended up working like this: removed the injector, grabbed the glowplug tip with locking hemostats, broke threaded part of plug off with vise grips, pulled glow plug tip into prechamber and out injector hole. This method obviously wouldnt work if the plug threads do not unscrew completely. Also need a little room to manuver, mine was #7 which wasn't too bad. I didn't know a removal tool existed at the time I did mine, if I did, I probably would have bought one to not risk dropping the plug tip down the cylinder.

Removing Mushroomed Glow Plugs the easy way
You guys that know 6.2's well probably aready know this but for the rest of us, a mushroomed glow plug can be removed without any special tools or removing the head. Just got the one I had out, its the first thing that has gone right so far. Remove the injector and unscrew the glow plug, then grab the glow plug with vise grips and bend it back and forth until it breaks off. Then use some hemostats or spring loaded tweezers to grab the end of the glow plug and pull it through its hole inside the prechamber. Twist it up and out. Not much space to work but it beats the hell out of removing a head!!

all found in gm diesel forum all the way back to 2002.

 

[tRustyK5]

Nice job Dave...

Rene

 

[moturbopar]

Thanks I allready found the info. Using the advanced search. Its easier when you can remove all the other forums.
Thanks again. PS we got 2 of them out by prying the crap out of it.

 

[6.2puller]

If you keep trying the just pull it method then be sure to twist it as you pull. A lot of times it is just carbon buildup on the coil and you can kinda thread it out as you pull. I don't know if it is a good idea or not but just incase I stuck a air blow gun in their and blasted it for a second to flush out any pcs that may have fallen in befor I put in my new plugs.

 

[darkshadow]

Thanks I allready found the info. Using the advanced search. Its easier when you can remove all the other forums.
Thanks again. PS we got 2 of them out by prying the crap out of it.

nice

 

[DieselDan]

What 6.2puller said. Steady pull pressure while unscrewing it will work 99% of the time. If it snaps (and it will usually be stuck in the hole), pull the injector out. Then using forcepts or a nylon tie (to lassoe the tip) "work" it out. Broken chips are best removed by blowing compressed air through glow plug hole with the injector removed.

Trust me on this: the less broken Glow plugs pieces put/left in the engine the better. I've seen way too many recontoured piston tops on 6.2s

 

[diesel4me]

mine sucked to pull too....

I succeded in getting only 7 out of 8 out of my 6.2..the front most one on the passenger side will unscrew fine,but not come out..I was afraid to break it,because I have fears the injector lines will break if I try removing an injector..I have no money for any,nor do I have any for an intake gasket, or feel like pulling it just to get one glowplug out..if I had the right puller tool it would likely come out unbroken..

I used lots of carb cleaner and penatrating oil on mine..tried to get it to dissolve as much soot on the tips of the glowplugs..after twisting and pulling on them for awhile,7 of them came out fine..I thoght 2 of them were never coming out,but the finally did!..

I told my brother (a former GM certified tech),and he cringed when I told him about the "just unscrew them and start it up!" post!..he pictured the tips breaking off and getting stuck between the cylinder and piston,or valves..or worse!...but maybe it DOES work??--I've heard this from other sources that are usually reliable ..

I think if I had a 3/8" socket that had a setscrew drilled and tapped into its side,so I could tighten it onto the glowplugs hex portion,then I could apply more outward pressure while turning it,and it would likely spin right out..like with a cordless drill in reverse while pulling outward on it...

I also wondered if its possible to drill the hole in the head bigger where the tips pass thru,so they can't get stuck so easily-anyone try that yet??

 

[darkshadow]

I also wondered if its possible to drill the hole in the head bigger where the tips pass thru,so they can't get stuck so easily-anyone try that yet??

that is an interesting idea, anyone have info onto weather that is a bad thing?