Broken Glow Plug

[hairyape1]

My engine has been taking longer to start recently, so I guess the glow plugs are getting tired. A while back I tried to remove one and the head snapped off immediately :( so I decided not to attempt any of the others encase it happened again. Has anyone had this happen? How much does it cost to have a garage drill out the remains?
I have been looking around at broken glow plug removal kits, has anyone had any experience with these? The kits cost ~100, so it depends on the comparative cost of a garage doing it... I would much rather do it myself, for the fun and experience. I do love exotic tools... however my bank account disagrees! 100 quid for a tool that I will only use rarely is pretty high... :D

Thanks
Benj

[hibbsy21]

just dont bother with removal tools...they can prove rather useless when you get one stuck in the glow plug its self.

When i snapped the injector bolt in my head I had 3 glow plugs stuck too. So the head came off and I sent it off to alucast near blackpool. You can find a LINKY (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Audi-1-9-D-TD-SDI-TDI-8V-Cylinder-Heads-Recon-Service-FREE-PICK-UP-DELIVERY-/250927134067?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item3a6c6c3573#ht_500wt_969) such as that one on ebay. They are very good and very quick. The do the lot and it comes back gleaming. Plus it is actually your head that they return.

Rich

[hairyape1]

Yeah thats my biggest fear... If I was I would get a good quality set to make sure there less likely to break.
But as you say if it breaks and gets stuck it would be a bugger to drill out. I had a drill bit break whilst I was drilling out a gear selector bolt, at the time I had no option than to drill out the broken bit. Needless to say it was a right pain and I would never want to do it again!

I'll have a look into getting the head done, annoyingly not long ago I saw a recon head on ebay that someone was selling cheap. Wish I had bought it then and there!

Cheers Rich

[spartacus 68]

Head off I'm afraid. Don't even think about trying to extract in situ. You might be able to get clawgrips on it from the underside. Failing that it will need to be drilled out. If the thread is goosed, it can be retapped and insert a helicoil. Use a little copperease on the thread prior to installing new glowplug.

[hairyape1]

Thanks spartacus and Rich, I think I wont bother drilling them out!