Glow plug bollocks

[Bren]

Took my vec to local garage for a thermostat and glow plugs.

 

The chaps there are very honest and dont charge a great deal - I was warned that if the glow plugs looked reluctant then they would'nt be getting touched as it could mean head removal.

 

Went to collect car - 'stat was done but not the plugs as on my 120 they are buried at the back of the head, under the fuel rail and EGR.

 

The odd thing is, the book time is around 40 mins! I dont think you could strip it all in under an hour, and that's if everything goes smoothly.

 

Seems to be a common problem with this model, it also appears that many mechanics are refusing to touch them due to the extra work a broken one entails.

 

This has made me think that it may be time to go back to petrol - diesels are too clever for their own good.

[gordonbennet]

Yep, then you've got injector bollocks too on 'em.

 

Was a time when injectors were either screwed in like oversized spark plugs or held in with a clamp, again outside spark plug style...either way they usually came undone without the lightest bother and you nipped 'em into a Diesel workshops for a reworking for (last set i had done was on the Savanna) the princely sum of £40 cash the lot, and re-used the existing injector pipes.

 

Now the poxy things are buried deep inside the rocker area, so if you're lucky the thing breaks when you go to remove it, if unlucky when a seal leaks the blow by carbons up the oil, which bungs up the oil strainer, which fucks the engine.

 

I've seen pics of slide hammers, bloody great things about 3 ft long welded to modern injectors and the bastards still won't shift.

 

And they call all this crap progress, backwards IMO.

 

Hilux injectors started rattling so they took it in, new set of injectors, new pipes too despite only covered 30k miles, reflash ECU...friggin £1750 in parts alone but under goodwill.

 

This bollocks is why we run LPG motors now, after running proper Diesels since the mid 80's.

Sold our last one about 3 years ago and most unlikely we'll ever have another unless it's a simple tried and trusted gem like a 940 Volvo or a Landcruiser 70 series.

[dave21478]

...I've seen pics of slide hammers, bloody great things about 3 ft long welded to modern injectors and the bastards still won't shift

.

 

 

I have had that with the Landrover....BMW td4 engine. 3 came out ok but the fourth was a nightmare. Once I realised it was not coming out intact I welded a bit of steel onto the end of it. I could literally pick the whole front of the car up off the ground using a hoist, lifting it by the injector. I ended up welding a 4 foot bit of steel rod onto it and sliding the metal head of a sledge hammer, sans the handle, over the rod then welding a cross-piece on at the top to make a slide hammer. I was standing on the engine giving it Full Retard for ages, yarking the weight up from my feet to the top of the rod as hard as I could. When it eventually came out the whole lot went flying out my hands and right across the farm yard.

 

Fuck diesels. Its petrol only from now on for me unless its an old-skool diesel like in my pickup truck....mechanical pump, and the most complicated bit of electronics in the whole car is the CD player.

 

I need to look into ethanol. I have seen a few pez stations round here selling E85 at literally half the price of petrol. Looks like a potentially viable alternative to LPG and no messing about fitting extra tanks.

[PiperCub]

Jesus, and to think, I bitched at the time about replacing those in my old 406 which were good old screw-in type. Another reason to stick to petrol for me.

[saucedoctor]

I've heard of Disco 3 TDV6 owners having to take the car BODY off to remove busted glow plugs.

 

 

Fuck diesels..

 

This.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

No way, surely if you have to take the body off the damn thing is a write off. thats amazing.

[dave21478]

I think the early Disco3 had some design problems that means the body had to come off for certain jobs like glow plug problems or turbo replacement. 

 

I think they fixed it later in the production run some how.

 

 

Id probably hang myself if I found my car needed that done to it to change a worn out engine component.

[Lacquer Peel]

Isn't the Disco 3 a ridiculous setup, something like a monocoque body on top of a ladder chassis?

[saucedoctor]

^ Yes. That's why they're the same weight as Belfast City Hall.

[twosmoke300]

2.7 tonnes iirc .

[Mr_Bo11ox]

2.7 tonnes??? Holy shit!!!

[Richard]

That means you can't tow any braked trailer with them on a post '97 licence, if I've understood the rules correctly (which I haven't, nobody does).

[Lankytim]

I swapped a pair of injectors on the Multipla yesterday, I undid the clamp and literally pulled them out with my hand. One was wet with fuel and the other all rusty. Urgh!

 

The used replacements had to be levered and hammered out of the donor cars head though, they were seized solid!

[saucedoctor]

The one I took out of that wee Hyundai was a doddle. I pushed the clap over after I'd loosened it, and lifted the injector out with my finger and thumb.

 

In contrast, Finn McCool would have had bother getting one out of a M47TU that I got saddled with.