2002 Allroad 2.5TDi AKE - removing caps on glow plugs

[ceilidhalfie]

Hi folks. My Allroad is a bit sluggish starting in htese cold mornings. No big deal, splutters a bit on the first two cranks and then fires into life and runs ok thereafter. As I have now had the car for 9 years, I thought I would test the glowplugs.
First time I have worked on diesels. Do the rubber caps on the glowplugs just pull off or has the rubber to be pulled back and then the connection unscrewed? I tried to (lightly) pull one off with grips (difficult to get you fingers on them due to lack of space). However it did not seem to want to come off and I did not wish to damge the rubber cap.
Any advice would be much appreciated.
Thanks.

[allan_audi]

The caps should just pull off the glow plugs, try twisting and pulling at the same time.

[ceilidhalfie]

Many thanks Allan. Will give it a go.

[adamss24]

Be carefull with the glow plugs, they have a habit of snapping in the head, soak them in plus gas or wd40 for a few days and pray they dont break otherwise the heads need to come off !

[ceilidhalfie]

Thanks for the tip Adam. At present I am just going to do a resistance test (multimeter -ve on engine earth and +ve on glowplug tip) and note the 6 readings. If I get wide variations (do not know what resistance SHOULD be), I will replace all 6 in the Spring and will indeed first give them a good soaking with WD40.
Thanks again.

[allan_audi]

Resistance should be around 0.2 Ohms, virtually short as they're heater elements. If you want to be sure just connect one side of a 12v bulb to battery +ve the other to the glow plug, if bulb lights then glow plug is ok.

Yeah, if you change them be really careful, lots plus gas and you want the engine warm too, I think out of the six on mine only two were working. Starts much better this winter!

[luke1135]

Just did mine today. Only one working out of 6. All came out easily. You do need to remove inlet piping to get at two of them though.