1.6HDi snapped glowplugs

[Ian_99]

Hi all!

I just tried to replace the glow plugs on my 2008 Berlingo (1.6HDi) and guess what, they snapped (I used a torque wrench at 10Nm, but still).  
I stopped at the third after cursing myself for not running the engine first.
Right now I am considering to get a professional to get them out and leave the rest be (or get them replaced by my local garage). I am by far not a pro but consider myself "handy" enough for simple tasks. So should I play safe or is it doable to get them out myself? Both of them didn't fall down the head but are stuck.
I uploaded some pictures where you can see the tip in one. The other is partially out but it feels like it's held by a thin wire.

Any tips appreciated

[brodfather11]

Hi ,
Have you searched for broken glow plug removal yet?  Depends on your skill/experience whether you can do it yourself.
A search I did came on to this video , Have a look then you decide if you want / can do it.  

https://youtu.be/jo0w1M9nDB4

I did hear of someone long ago broke a glow plug in and just ran the engine until it got blown out by the engine compression , dont know if it would work on yours .

[Ian_99]

Hi ,
Have you searched for broken glow plug removal yet?  Depends on your skill/experience whether you can do it yourself.
A search I did came on to this video , Have a look then you decide if you want / can do it.  

https://youtu.be/jo0w1M9nDB4

I did hear of someone long ago broke a glow plug in and just ran the engine until it got blown out by the engine compression , dont know if it would work on yours .

Thanks for the reply!
I definitely see myself capable of doing that, although in my case it's only (part of) the tip, not the whole glow plug. 
What I am most scared about is running into some stupid newbie mistake I did not anticipate, like ending up drilling into the engine block somehow. These videos make it seem so easy with a decent kit, I would get something like this rather affordable one from amazon: https://youtu.be/g9mH5fdAeqU
But from that video it seems like you still need to somewhat aim for the drilling part, I usually drill more diagonally than straight by free hand.
And I still fear it could drop into the engine head

[brodfather11]

Another video demonstrates a method of removing the broken tip by removing the injector (which could be difficult on older models as the injector sometimes stick in the cylinderhead ) and with a magnet fishing out the broken off tip through the injector hole. 

 Can be frustrating but it is possible  as the video showed.

 Another shows that by cutting up and removing the centre off an old glow plug, keeping the threaded part , you can make a guide out of it for the drill bit so that its centred in the broken glow plug. It may stop you drilling off centre.

At the price of those kits it may be worthwhile DIY , a decent one would cost only about an hour or so of the garage mechanics time

[geoff]

Ian the other option is to leave the broken glow plugs in place and just wait until they come out of their own accord.

The engine will run just fine with them they won't fall inside the engine.

I did this about three years back with my own Berlingo.
Originally was going to make the tooling myself to extract the broken bits but in the end didn't bother and let old father time do the work for me instead.

All you have to do is keep the tools and new plugs in the car with you, as you know it is easy and quick to fit new plugs.

Here is the topic on the Forum where I did just that ....
https://www.berlingoforum.com/thread-225...glow+plugs

[Ian_99]

At the price of those kits it may be worthwhile DIY , a decent one would cost only about an hour or so of the garage mechanics time

In the end it's only an hour work by someone with experience with this, a specialist would cost more than triple, if not quadruple, I was told. Our local garage is willing to do it when he has spare time (probably by the end of the month). Funnily enough the official Citroen garage didn't want to do it.

Ian the other option is to leave the broken glow plugs in place and just wait until they come out of their own accord.

The engine will run just fine with them they won't fall inside the engine.

I did this about three years back with my own Berlingo.
Originally was going to make the tooling myself to extract the broken bits but in the end didn't bother and let old father time do the work for me instead.

All you have to do is keep the tools and new plugs in the car with you, as you know it is easy and quick to fit new plugs.

Here is the topic on the Forum where I did just that ....  
https://www.berlingoforum.com/thread-225...glow+plugs

Thanks for linking the forum post. Would there be no risk of them falling in at all? I know when that happens the car will be totalled, which would be a huge shame since I spent a whole lot on the AC system.
I couldn't find anyone saying this happened so my gut feeling says it might be worth a shot?

[geoff]

Obviously I'm biased about leaving the broken off bits in place ....

If you think about it they will be jammed TIGHTLY in place ( how else could they have snapped off if they weren't tight ) so won't fall inwards by themselves.

[Ian_99]

Obviously I'm biased about leaving the broken off bits in place ....

If you think about it they will be jammed TIGHTLY in place ( how else could they have snapped off if they weren't tight ) so won't fall inwards by themselves.

That makes a lot of sense. I'll probably give it a go before deciding to drill it. 

And if I'm very lucky maybe I could wiggle the second one out (the one that's still somewhat attached to the glow plug body) if I use enough penetrating oil and maybe some EGR cleaner (to dissolve the black crud). Could these fluids hurt the engine?

[Ian_99]

So I tried to pull the second one out after praying to the glow plug gods, but of course the tiny metal wire couldn't hold...
I'll try turning the engine next, but there seems to be another wire still inside. I'll try to fish it out with some tweezers, don't want to risk this damaging anything on the way out...
Added some pictures for reference.

Edit: even my tweezers are too big for this! I did manage to measure the depth with some calipers and it's 72mm. That means it moved up by about 12mm. So it should be clear from the engine head. As Geoff did I'll carefully turn it over manually first before starting. Which I'll be doing when the rain stops tomorrow...

[Ian_99]

Good news! Both pieces came out after just 3 drives (~30km/19 miles total ). First one dug a hole in the air box, second one vanished out of existence, but the engine sounds normal so it shouldn't have gotten into the head I hope.
Thanks to some bystanders it was not too bad to put the new glow plugs in on the side of the road, especially the second one (from the right) was a pain as the plastic air filter box holder was in the way and couldn't be fully removed.
What surprised me however was that the reamer I used came out very clean, barely any black stuff was sticking to the grease.
The remaining old glow plugs I'm leaving as is and will ask the mechanic on it's next check up, I'm not trusting myself anymore with these!