oil and soot on glow plugs

[brighton123]

went to change glow plugs on my My A6 2.5 tdi 1995 as it is starting very badly from cold and very smokey and found 1 and 2 very sooty and 3 is covered in wet oil , I havnt removed 4 or 5 yet as there seems little point, I am guessing rings, seals or head gasket, perhaps a bit of all three Any tips or tricks before I take the head off, any special tools required?, I have the VAG official online manual, and also have a VAGCOM cable I have a merc gearbox to sort first and will tackle the audi in 3 weeks time or so, so plenty of time to get any tools etc that I might need,

thanks in advance

[STEWY L]

i would just change the glow plugs.
the two that are sooty will have been working i guess,and the wet one hasn't been.
the tdi engine breather system feeds back into the inlet side so it's not uncommon to find oil in there.
if it's only smoking when cold starting, then the glow plugs should cure that,and if it's not overheating,or you have no signs of oil/coolant cross contamination leave the head well alone. does it use much oil?
kindest regards,
stewy.

[brighton123]

It does use some although there is no obvious sign of oil/coolant contamination, There does seem to be a lot of oil on the oily plug though, wouldnt the oil just stop the new plug from working, Or would it burn off the deposit due to its high temp ?, ill try changing them all and report back

[STEWY L]

i'm sure the plug would burn it off, but why not try the plug over the battery? you should see
it glow red almost immeadiatley( at once!!!)spelling is not my greatest asset.
you seem convinced that the rings have gone,but you would certainly see blue smoke whilst
driving if that was the case,and you haven't mentioned any smoke except on cold starts.
as you say,try the plugs first, but you can try the old ones on the battery as i said and that should show you how many were off.
good luck,
stewy.