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Glow plug snapped in cylinder head


countryman
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About 3 weeks ago I took my Defender to the garage with a cold engine starting issue, suspected glow plugs, it’s the 2.2 ford engine one, the mechanic snapped one off in the engine and it’s a specialist job to get it out, 3 weeks later still waiting for this guy to come to the garage and hopefully get the glow plug out, I was hoping the job would be done by now as I need the landrover back for my work, has anyone had the same problem, did they manage to get the plug out and not remove the head, and what was the cost for this as the garage can’t give me a price yet.

Thanks.

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Not a nice job, just had my 6 done on a Chrysler 300C, for one week I sprayed WD40 into each plug, came out easy, My garage had the same problem, cut the story short there is a guy who travels the country, charges you £? per plug, much cheaper than removing the head, but my garage is shut until new year, lets see how you get on in the meentime.

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To be honest this is what I thought about them paying but I just wanted to see what other people thought, I called them yesterday and it’s still not done, I explained that I thought after 3 weeks it would have been done and that it was my only tow vehicle which I needed this week, with another bank holiday coming I will give it until later next week before I call them again, what I do know is that I am paying for it and no loan vehicle has been offered.

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35 minutes ago, countryman said:

Yes I was surprised they needed outside help in the first place, they are a big independent landrover garage.

Did the garage warn you before starting the job that there's a possibility they may shear on removal? If they did then you may have to stand the cost or part of for removal.

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I know this is bad luck for you but, when things get older thay rust and have a habit of ringing off, I have worked in a garage most of my working life and don't matter what you do these things happen, so I would think it's fair to come to some agreement of the bill.

👍

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19 minutes ago, countryman said:

No , no mention of that, I never even thought of this happening to be honest, it was booked in and expected to be out the next day.

Well that's a good start, normally a garage will inform you before hand if there is a risk of damage during certain work, they usually ask you if you still wish them to carry on with the work at your risk.

Think I would start to push them for a date on fixing the broken glow plug.

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Where I work we have a disclaimer in place and make it crystal clear to the customer the risks involved before committing to glow plug changes. Could be a few hours, could be days, could be head off, it has to be repeated to the customer that if a plug is stuck they will be contacted and asked for permission to proceed. There are only a few of us that here that will take on these jobs because of the potential for trouble. Once a plug goes tight, experience tells you how hard you can try before we stop, contact customer and alert them, next step is low torque high impact air tool extraction, this is set below the shear value of the plug and can be time consuming but effective. After that it all goes south and the expensive/nervy stuff starts. Customer is always kept in the loop though and contacted with options to proceed. Some will just dismiss the call and tell us to get it done, some appreciate the updates and can start to budget for repairs, our big fleet contracts insist on updates and costings before work can commence. Communication is the answer. Previously if the job involved broken unit extraction we had an outside contractor that would come in, we would even give the customer the option to employ them directly, removing the risk from us and lowering the cost to them. Then there's injectors, merc injectors, Freelander injectors, (starts rocking in dark corner)..........

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1 hour ago, London Best said:

@countryman No comfort for you I know, but my Ford engined (2.4) Defender starts perfectly from cold without letting the glow plugs warm up.

Yes so did mine I believe until we had that sub zero temperatures, my Defender is a 15 plate, one of the last I believe, it’s got about 60,000 miles on the clock and has been well looked after, maybe I am expecting to much but I would of thought the glow plugs would unscrew without snapping at that age.

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15 minutes ago, countryman said:

Yes so did mine I believe until we had that sub zero temperatures, my Defender is a 15 plate, one of the last I believe, it’s got about 60,000 miles on the clock and has been well looked after, maybe I am expecting to much but I would of thought the glow plugs would unscrew without snapping at that age.

I'm not a landy man but I think I recall reading there is a corrosion aspect IF the cylinder heads are aluminium and the glowplug threads are steel: the possible issue could be corrosion incompatibility between ferrous and non ferrous metals, particularly if screwed together. I'm sure their are people on here who know more about this than me.

Edited by Dave-G
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5 hours ago, old'un said:

Well that's a good start, normally a garage will inform you before hand if there is a risk of damage during certain work, they usually ask you if you still wish them to carry on with the work at your risk.

Think I would start to push them for a date on fixing the broken glow plug.

Yes. This. Just like a good stocker of guns will always advise that if the cast or bend is altered that there is a risk of the stock cracking. Ditto if on a restock it's your blank supplied. If it's their blank it's a their cost if a "shake" or internal rot is found. If your blank it's down to you.

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46 minutes ago, clangerman said:

this is full square fault of the garage any competent mechanic should know when to stop applying torque to glow plugs and leave them to soak I would not pay for the mechanics impatience to wait changed plenty in landies and yet to snap one 

Wish you had done mine.

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I have the same 2.2 in my transit custom- it’s due in for its mot and 2 out of 4 glow plugs are throwing faults on ecu. It’s very lazy starting when really cold !

local garage a ford man will get the work if they want it - if not there is a special derv garage down the road that works on a lot of transits.

Everyone mentioned they can be a pain to get out !

Agriv8

 

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10 hours ago, Agriv8 said:

I have the same 2.2 in my transit custom- it’s due in for its mot and 2 out of 4 glow plugs are throwing faults on ecu. It’s very lazy starting when really cold !

local garage a ford man will get the work if they want it - if not there is a special derv garage down the road that works on a lot of transits.

Everyone mentioned they can be a pain to get out !

Agriv8

 

I would be very interested to now how you get on with that.

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