Constant Duty Glow Plugs

[Mr_Roboto]

Well GP's are made to heat air, not fuel..... You can't really say anything about them going bad when used in a totally off-spec application...

As far as the Beru / Ford GP's, I'm sure they are better than the "cheapo" brands. But if they were infallible, none of us would have replaced the factory ones in the first place!! I firmly believe in using OEM, UNLESS there is a superior aftermarket alternative.

[johnnynegaunee]

Hey Alaska, how long do you cycle your GP's with the manual switch when it's -30+/- and are you using the dual coil plugs from Wellman the other threads are talking about? Thanks

[RedandWhite_69]

I'm glad I saw this post. I just talked to DAS about some replacement CD GPs (yes - replacements. some of mine have gone bad over the last three years...) and was told they were out of Berus for the time being and that they only had the WAPs. I believe the CD GPs are 12 volt as opposed to 6 volt - that's why they require a longer burn time and sebsequently don't burn out as easy. I went with the DAS solid state controller and CD GPs - they are a winning combination. ...but nothing last forever.

just my $.02, Brian

[OkieGringo]

I'm not sure how long I've been coming to this site(3 yrs at least), but this is where I learned about the Motorcraft/Beru GPs. As a 'diesel newbie' I bought Autolite GPs and they lasted a week. That's when I found this site. Bought the Motorcraft GP then, and they've been in there ever since, and they're still working wonderfully even in this Oklahoma cold weather. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smokin.gif[/img]OkieGringo

[ziggster40]

I'm a believer.

I originally had Champs and then bosch burn out/swell on me, and after pulling the heads twice, decided to go with the CD's. Been over 3 years, in winter down to -20 on the ski hill, and she always starts first piston to the top with 5 to 8 seconds on my manual button. Never had one burn out.

I've seen their test bench in action. While I was there, Paul flipped the mounted glow plug on(connected to 12v) and it glowed red in about 3 secs, and it remained on and glowing for over 2 hours while I was there, and with no obvious effect at all. He says it's been the same one in their display case for years.
You can't do that with any of the other brands, and many of them will swell or bend when they crap out making them all but impossible to remove.

I consider the extra cost just a bit of insurance...

Zigg [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[desilejf57]

For anyone who has had the unfortunate glow plug stick in the head here is how I fixed the mess I had with all 8 stuck. I drilled out a nut so it would slip over the entire plug, this was after I had backed them out as far as I could. I then got another nut with the correct threads for the plug. Cut the nut in half, drop the drilled out nut over the plug and then hold the half nut you just made in place on top of this nut shim, I use a big screw driver and light pressure. Unscrew the little buggers, they come right out then. I had a brand new set of Autolite plugs stick on the first start, burned them all to a crisp. The new solid state control unit solved the burn up issue. When the plugs are getting burned up its the control unit behind the air-cleaner
I have owned my 84 6.9 since new and have dealt with all these issues, getting smarter about these trucks every year. The WAP glow plugs are in my opinion superior and I have had them all.

[drinkypoo]

I still want a 12 volt CD plug, why is this so hard to come by? The IDI just weird?

I pulled one glow plug to see what's up... I have autolites. So far everything is peachy but I'm afraid if my controller ever goes south it will mushroom my GPs

[NH2112]

Why not give AC60Gs a try? My testing from 2-3 years back showed them to be all but impossible to burn out with 2 solid hours of straight 12V from a wheel-around battery charger. You'd just need to put 1/4" female spade terminals on your glow plug harness.

[drinkypoo]

they don't quite have the right shoulder length to seat properly, they make me nervous.

[NH2112]

Yeah, I remember the differences in dimensions from my measurements, but I have read of a few people here using them. I remember back in my GM 6.2l days, a friend had an 82-84 pickup with the glow plug controller very similar to the 6.9l's, and he was running the old AC9G plugs that would burn out and swell if you even thought about it happening. What he ended up doing was using a toggle switch to turn on/off power to the controller, that way it COULDN'T stick on and burn out the plugs. He kept the switch in place even when he made the switch to the better AC11G plugs (before the AC60Gs came out) and never had a problem with it. I don't recall exactly how he wired it, but I'd have to guess he just put the switch in the wire going from the controller to energize the relay coil.

[drinkypoo]

disabling the glow system is the easy part! changing to CD plugs, that's apparently hard

I do remember hearing of some people running AC60Gs but it still seems sketchy to me.

I've read a lot of GP specs but I don't have a clear list of which are CD and which aren't. I have a long list of which plugs are which size and interchange with which, etc.

[diezelcrazee]

I have AC60G plugs in one of my trucks. I did a writeup with pics on my website. Link in signature.

drinky - "sketchy" is why I recently put new ZD9s in my 94 truck instead of the 60Gs