glow plugs

tomsheppard · Post by **tomsheppard** » 07 Apr 2004, 18:48

Engine starts roughly from cold- glow plugs want checking, I reckoned.
Sure enough, number 4 was reading 1000 Ohms so it is duff. I'm looking forward to better starting but I'm seeking a consensus:
should I change the other three all of which read about half an Ohm, or just the busted one?

Patxi · Post by **Patxi** » 07 Apr 2004, 20:12

I would change all four.
Costs a little more, but at least you know that none (hope so) will fail very soon.
Do it [;)]

TomH · Post by **TomH** » 07 Apr 2004, 20:26

you can't just buy one anyway can you? I'd do them all, or another will fail (sod's law)

Post by **RichardW** » 07 Apr 2004, 20:44

Can be bought singly at GSF. If the one that is gone is behind the injection pump then it's odds on that the other 3 have been changed and that one has been left, so you can probably get away with only changing one. Arm yourself with a 12mm cranked ring spanner and they're not too bad on a BX. Change the seal between the intercooler and inlet manifold whist you've got it off as well!

Kowalski · Post by **Kowalski** » 07 Apr 2004, 21:10

If all of the plugs are the same sort of age I would replace all of them regardless.
My Xantia had a dead plug, I changed all 4 as a matter of course. 2 were original plugs (one of the two was dead, the other looked to be in similar poor condition.) Of the replaced plugs, one was Beru and the other I'm not sure of the brand of but these two were clearly new pretty much in new condition. In the end, I'm pretty sure that I wanted to replace 3 of the plugs (i.e. two old ones and the non-Beru new plug).
In any case you won't be able to assess whether the plugs are all of the same age and condition once you've gone to the effort of removing the difficult plug from behind the injector pump you might as well replace it... glow plugs aren't expensive, and if it happens that you pull 3 perfect plugs out you've got 3 spare glowplugs for future replacement.

tomsheppard · Post by **tomsheppard** » 07 Apr 2004, 21:52

The duff one is at the clutch end. This engine is fitted to a BX and swapping them out looks easy enough with a long 12mm socket. I'll just change the duff one and see what effect it has. Bet I get less white smoke on startup!

jeremy · Post by **jeremy** » 07 Apr 2004, 22:13

Tom
I seem to remember just replacing 2 on my Td when I first got it - but they were obviously not a set. I think I did 3 and 4 (with 1 at the flywheel end and had no problems using a 1/4 inch drive deep socket.
thats not quite true - someone had crossed the thread on no 4 (cam belt end) and when I eventually got it out it brought most of the thread with it. just enough to grip at the correct torque which fortunately isn't very tight.
jeremy

JohnD · Post by **JohnD** » 07 Apr 2004, 23:12

On our two 205's and the BX, I've only ever changed the plugs as and when they've gone dead. Since getting the 2.1 Xantia there's so much gear to remove before even being able to touch the plugs that the last time one died, I changed all four.