Glow plug change on a PD diesel

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desertstorm
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Joined: Thu Apr 19, 2007 9:11 pm
Passat model: B5.5 130 TDI AWX
Location: Cannock

Glow plug change on a PD diesel

Post by desertstorm »

I noticed during the recent cold spell we were having that the car was sounding a bit rough when cold, below about 3-4 degrees C, and I was getting plumes of white smoke when starting it. Still started first time as it always has but didn't seem right.As the car is a 2002 130TDI with nearly 100K on the clock and still had the original glow plugs I thought they could probably do with a change.
Ordered some Beru ones off E-bay, The part number is GN046 they are different to the earlier GN855 as they are designed to run for a few minutes.They are the same make as those fitted originally by VW.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/VW-Golf-Mk4-1-9-T ... m153.l1262" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The price seemed pretty good £27.50 for all four plugs including delivery. They arrived 2 days later.

I took mine out when the engine was cold, They shouldn't be that tight as they have a taper seat.
From other peoples experiences and to keep your hands warm if it's cold I would recommend warming the engine up first. This would make removing the glowplugs easier if one was sticky.
Removed the engine cover first by undoing the three 10mm nut's under the small circular covers. you have to remove the dip stick as well but put it back in. The chances of dropping a nut down the tube are very small but better safe than sorry.
The glow plug locations are shown at 1,2,3 and 4. You can see the black wiring plugs on 1 and 2 but 3 and 4 are hidden.Number 4 is a pig to get to and you have to remove the fuel filter bracket to get at it. So start by removing the top securing bolt marked 5.
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Next remove the connecting plug on the MAP sensor 6, This will allow you to get loosen the fuel lines from the clips at 7 and 8. Finally loosen the fuel filter securing screw at 9, You should be able to move the fuel filter now.

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Loosen the fuel lines from the clip 10 and you will be able to lift the fuel filter complete with hoses clear of it's bracket. You can check for any water in the filter while you have it out.
I noticed that the rubber O ring in the intercooler hose needs replacing on mine as it is weeping oil. A job for another day.

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You can now see 2 of the 4 fixings that need removing to get the filter bracket out. 11 is a 10mm nut and 12 is a 10mm bolt.
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I have included the next photo so you can see where the other 2 bolts are located on the bracket, They are a bit tricky to see when it's on the car. 13 and 14 are both 10mm bolts. Seems a bit of overkill to me if this was a Ford there probably would have been only 2 bolts holding this.

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With the fuel filter bracket removed I found that the steel coolant rail got in the way of removing and replacing the plugs in 1 and 2 so i moved it out the way by undoing 15.

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You can now easily remove and replace all 4 glowplugs. They have a 10mm hex on them so you need a deep 10mm socket and a 3/8 extension bar with a 3/8 ratchet will do the job fine.I used a pair of pliers to remove the connectors as they were tight,Make sure the connectors are clicked back on propely when refitting.
The threads are quite fine on the plugs and as this is an aluminium head you wouldn't want to get anything cross threaded. Thus I put a small amount of copperslip on the threads of the new plug and screwed them half way in by hand just to make sure. I think they are tightened to something like 15nm, They don't have to be that tight as they have a tapered seat.

The old plugs, You can see that the one to the left is duff as it hasn't been burning the carbon off like the other 3 have. This one is from number 1 cylinder and measuring the resistance on the plugs the duff one was open circuit, the other 3 around 0.5 an ohm.

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All the tools used.
16 3/8 ratchet with small extension and a 10mm deep socket.
17 is a 10mm spanner that I have, Found it to be useful over the years, You could use a small 10mm open ended or ring spanner as I didn't find any of the bolts that tight.
18 13mm spanner.
19 10mm spanner
20 small flat blade screwdriver
21 phillips screwdriver
22 pliers.
It's taken me longer to write this than it did to actually do the job. Just over an hour and I was taking photo's.
And the car starts perfect now, no white smoke no lumpy running.

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Gone but will never be forgotten
207Bhp 347Lb/ft 14.9 seconds 93mph
The build topic viewtopic.php?f=5&t=56110

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The new 382bhp Audi viewtopic.php?f=5&t=70765

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