Glow Plugs - Any issues?

[Chris3058]

Ok...so #3 replaced in the 50k km range and now #4 at 71k.....any one else with premature glow plug issues??? Seems not right but i guess it could be just bad parts??

C

 

[TheBobs]

My #4 plug has gone bad at 76,000 and I’m going to attempt to swap in a new one this weekend. I thought it would be relatively easy since it is furthest forward on the drivers side but a fair amount of stuff has to come off to get to it. Keeping fingers crossed it comes out fairly easily.
@Chris3058 did you replace yours or did you go to the dealer? If the dealer was it under warranty or did you have to pay big $’s for the fix?

 

[2021EcoDiesel]

Had the dealer replace my #4 plug at approximately 65,000 miles. Next one I’ll probably do myself. The plug job was covered under warranty.

 

[Katoom]

Had to have an injector replaced on a '05 Duramax once, the job was 100% not something you can do on your own and you never just replace one as it's so intrusive so you replace all on that bank with the bad injector. Needless to say, the cost was around $4k, I've got warranty for 3 yrs so I'll let the dealer do the fixing.

 

[Chris3058]

My #4 plug has gone bad at 76,000 and I’m going to attempt to swap in a new one this weekend. I thought it would be relatively easy since it is furthest forward on the drivers side but a fair amount of stuff has to come off to get to it. Keeping fingers crossed it comes out fairly easily.
@Chris3058 did you replace yours or did you go to the dealer? If the dealer was it under warranty or did you have to pay big $’s for the fix?

Dealer replaced as it was covered under my extended warranty but it would have been big money otherwise. Labour and like you said - lots of stuff to come off to replace. So my extended warranty has paid for itself after two glow plugs. Luckily I’m covered to
160,000

 

[66Fuelie]

If you are mechanically inclined, you can do it on your own but there is a lot of stuff to take off.
However, the biggest problem is the glow plug being seized in the head, if it is you are probably in for a job you wish you wouldn't have started.
Tom

 

[TheBobs]

If you are mechanically inclined, you can do it on your own but there is a lot of stuff to take off.
However, the biggest problem is the glow plug being seized in the head, if it is you are probably in for a job you wish you wouldn't have started.
Tom

Dealer replaced as it was covered under my extended warranty but it would have been big money otherwise. Labour and like you said - lots of stuff to come off to replace. So my extended warranty has paid for itself after two glow plugs. Luckily I’m covered to
160,000

Well I took the plunge and replaced the #4 glow plug at home. Dealer wanted $579 for the job, I bought the plug for $78 and took about an hour of my time - so I paid myself $500.

Thankfully the original glow plug came right out - the head design on this 3rd Gen EcoD is quite a bit different than the previous engine. The threads aren’t so deep that crud gums them up and prevents them from coming out. I literally shot a little bit of PB Blaster around the top of the plug and let it sit for about 30 minutes and then used a 1/4 inch ratchet and 10mm deep-well socket to remove it. Put the new one back in and buttoned it up.

You’re almost blind getting to the plug - so much in the way visually that it makes things frustrating. Thankfully it was #4 and not 2, 3, 5 or 6. Those 4 are so far back that the only way to comfortably get to them is to use some sort of platform to lay on so you don’t tear your stomach apart on the radiator and engine components.

As they say, YMMV.

Bob

 

[Katoom]

Nicely done,,,, hope I don't ever have to bother with this.. Truck currently sitting at 66k miles and running strong and crossing fingers I get another 60k before I need to worry about plugs..

 

[BigRedTD]

Would it have been easier to remove the wheel well liners and come up from the well to replace the back ones?

 

[Chris3058]

Well I took the plunge and replaced the #4 glow plug at home. Dealer wanted $579 for the job, I bought the plug for $78 and took about an hour of my time - so I paid myself $500.

Thankfully the original glow plug came right out - the head design on this 3rd Gen EcoD is quite a bit different than the previous engine. The threads aren’t so deep that crud gums them up and prevents them from coming out. I literally shot a little bit of PB Blaster around the top of the plug and let it sit for about 30 minutes and then used a 1/4 inch ratchet and 10mm deep-well socket to remove it. Put the new one back in and buttoned it up.

You’re almost blind getting to the plug - so much in the way visually that it makes things frustrating. Thankfully it was #4 and not 2, 3, 5 or 6. Those 4 are so far back that the only way to comfortably get to them is to use some sort of platform to lay on so you don’t tear your stomach apart on the radiator and engine components.

As they say, YMMV.

Bob

this is good to know post warranty...thanks for the info!

 

[TheBobs]

Would it have been easier to remove the wheel well liners and come up from the well to replace the back ones?

The glow plugs sit on top of the engine so it wouldn't work coming in through the wheel wells. I think the wheel well trick may work on a Duramax or PowerStroke since they're V8's and the wheel liners go up high enough to come in through the bottom. Unfortunately that doesn't work on the Ram ED because the plugs sit on the inside of the cylinder heads between the intake manifold and the valve covers - no way to get to them from the outside of the heads.

Sure hope the other 5 glow plugs last a LONG time...

Bob