Morning all.
With all the cold weather recently, my A6 decided it was time to dust off the old glow plugs and give them a blast of current.
Unfortunately one of them wasn't quite up to and and brought the light on. I scanned the codes and found cylinder five to be the issue.
So I started poking about, I wish I hadn't! First thing I noticed was the electrical connector which had been bodged up with electrical tape
No problem, Audi will sell me one with a length of wire for £19.95 which I'll solder on later.
I then ordered a glow plug on ebay for £3, they sent a pack of four for the same price! When they arrived, I got a nice deep 10mm socket on the old one and started trying to get it out.
But even the small 8" ratchet I was using was enough to shear the head off the glow plug!
It has snapped between the hex and the threaded section
The body and thread are still seated fine, and the engine has been running perfectly for a few days now. But the hex just spins.
Unfortunately access is very limited, whatever I decided to do, I will have to remove the intake and disassemble the fuel rail.
I am now deciding between two options:
1) buy this kit for £40 and do it myself
That would involve snapping off the hex with the proved tool, then using the step drill to drill out the thread and at the same time drill a tapping drill hole for the provided tool. Then use the provided tap to tap the body of the plug. Then screw in the extraction tool and pull the remains of the plug out and clean up the threads in the head with the provided tap.
I think I can probably do it, but if I screw up, it's a new head!
2) have a local engine machining specialist (Maynards engines, Stroud) do it for me. I'm certain they will do a good job, but they charge £60/hour, and it could well take a few hours. I am going to try and pop over one evening this week and have them look over it and discuss it with me.
I would be very interested to hear and thoughts you may have or any experience you have and with this!
Ben
With all the cold weather recently, my A6 decided it was time to dust off the old glow plugs and give them a blast of current.
Unfortunately one of them wasn't quite up to and and brought the light on. I scanned the codes and found cylinder five to be the issue.
So I started poking about, I wish I hadn't! First thing I noticed was the electrical connector which had been bodged up with electrical tape
No problem, Audi will sell me one with a length of wire for £19.95 which I'll solder on later.
I then ordered a glow plug on ebay for £3, they sent a pack of four for the same price! When they arrived, I got a nice deep 10mm socket on the old one and started trying to get it out.
But even the small 8" ratchet I was using was enough to shear the head off the glow plug!
It has snapped between the hex and the threaded section
The body and thread are still seated fine, and the engine has been running perfectly for a few days now. But the hex just spins.
Unfortunately access is very limited, whatever I decided to do, I will have to remove the intake and disassemble the fuel rail.
I am now deciding between two options:
1) buy this kit for £40 and do it myself
That would involve snapping off the hex with the proved tool, then using the step drill to drill out the thread and at the same time drill a tapping drill hole for the provided tool. Then use the provided tap to tap the body of the plug. Then screw in the extraction tool and pull the remains of the plug out and clean up the threads in the head with the provided tap.
I think I can probably do it, but if I screw up, it's a new head!
2) have a local engine machining specialist (Maynards engines, Stroud) do it for me. I'm certain they will do a good job, but they charge £60/hour, and it could well take a few hours. I am going to try and pop over one evening this week and have them look over it and discuss it with me.
I would be very interested to hear and thoughts you may have or any experience you have and with this!
Ben