Glow plugs - T25 Vanagon 1989 diesel 1600cc

Post by **BiC** » 29 Mar 2008, 17:25

Hi guys,

Had some starting problems last winter that were resolved by the local garage fitting a new set of Lucas glow plugs at £7 each.

Had a repeat this week - stuttered for a few days then wouldn't start. Bought 4 new Lucas plugs again with a view to fitting them today. Only managed the top 2, nearest the front of the van. Started but still hit and miss - how do I get at the 2 plugs nearest THE back of the van?

Don't realy want to pay the local garage £30 for an hours labour just because they know the trick. I can see no marks around the starter motor etc thats positioned above these two plugs, leaving no room for finger work or spannering. The garage obviously didn't remove it last time. Just read a forum post that suggests a magnetic head, angled spocket spanner is required. Can someone post a link to one such tool - I prefer to buy one and do it myself in future.

Also, with the future in mind, given this is the second set inside of two winters, how long should I expect a new set of 4 glow plugs to last? A few mates with modern deisel cars reckon the plugs should hardly ever break down, instilling worry in me that its hiding some greater fault!

Post by **andysimpson** » 29 Mar 2008, 18:20

I always remove injectors one and two but just removing pipes will help.

Why Lucas? They have a reputation.

NO modern diesels need glow plugs in this country, not cold enough.

Get some bosch ones when the lucas next fail.

Post by **MartT** » 29 Mar 2008, 18:51

just done all four ... but had to put an old one back in cos I dropped one and can't get the little bugger. Need a smaller magnet stick

the main issue I had was the 8mm nuts on top. would have been easier with the injectors out I guess. In the end I loosened the 8mm nuts on the 2 rearmost plugs and then slowly unscrewed the glowplugs with an open-ended spanner.

the ratchet spanner from gsf wasn't quite right. the ratchets weren't fine enough with everything in place. I also have a ratchet spanner set (halfords) with flexible heads. That helped a lot. A bit of tissue paper to stop the 8 mm nut from dropping out of the spanner when trying to put it back on.

Any of that help? Or make sense??

Not an expert. Only had the van a couple of weeks

Post by **BigTam** » 30 Mar 2008, 10:20

Remove the injection pipes, then losely fit the 8mm nuts before putting the rear plugs in, fiddly but can be done with a bit of paitence,

Post by **kit** » 30 Mar 2008, 11:57

Mark the injector pipes before removing them

Post by **HarryMann** » 30 Mar 2008, 12:28

Can someone post a link to one such tool - I prefer to buy one and do it myself in future.

Will photo one and put in the Wiki, they're about £13 from Snap-On tool vans , or Bluepoint.

Some engines are a bit harder than others maybe due to the actual Injection Pump fitted I think (Not starter motor as you say, nowhere near it)...

30NM (22 ft-lb), if overtightened that might make them pack up prematurely, or maybe if injection tinming is wrong, or if engine runs on oil from turbo, detonating badly, or as Andy said, Lucas may just be a bad make for these.

GSF do them fairly reasonable.

Post by **HarryMann** » 30 Mar 2008, 23:18

[img:800:472]https://club8090.co.uk/wiki/images/GloPlugSpanner_01.jpg[/img]

Helps, but doesn't solve all the access problems IMO...

Post by **BiC** » 13 Apr 2008, 09:08

Cheers for all the advice guys. Than van failed to start twice last week, after it was resurected by fitting 2 new glow plugs - the ones that could be easily accessed towards front of van. Loads of power in the battery but it wouldn't fire in the cold mornings, then upon start-up later in the day (suuny afternoons!!!!) it was smoking the street out.

Bit the bullet and took it to the local garage yesterday for an hour - 2 rear glow plugs fitted after they removed the fuel pipes, as suggested above. They couldn't do it with them in place. Result: £40 labour - thats £72 total, for 4 new glow plugs. Ouch.

Starts first click now, so I'm happy again. Seemingly less smoke too. New exhaust back box and pipe tomorrow (bigger hole in wallet) should help her run sweeter still.

Post by **HarryMann** » 13 Apr 2008, 10:36

Result: £40 labour - thats £72 total, for 4 new glow plugs. Ouch.

Yep, but that's fair labour for that job I'd say, might have been worse!

Will run with less smoke straight away and waste a little less fuel starting up, but shouldn't affect it much once hot (did they show you the old glo plugs?!, they can be pretty smashed up, not helping smooth ignition)

At least you'll appreciate the smug feeling going out to it on a cold morning when it'll fire up nicely and settle down to a good old diesel idle nice and quickly

Post by **redstar** » 14 Apr 2008, 17:12

BigTam is spot on there,,, My van had plenty of names the day i did mine

the only thing to remember is if you are popping the nuts on first, make them loose (the second one from the back is the hard one, so do it first)
good luck and save your money! (the way diesel is going your gonna need it!)