Ford 7.3 liter E350 Glow Plug Tip Broken Off Help! - Diesel Forum

Ambulance101 · 09-04-2006, 02:16 PM

While Changing out the Glow Plugs yesterday in my 1994 Ford E350 Former Ambulance 7.3 liter non-turbo. My son (shade tree mechanic)accidently broke off the tip of one in the hole. How can I get it out?. Hopefully not too difficult because removing the heads is not an option. Need to know asap please.

BuilderBob · 09-04-2006, 02:41 PM

Is the tip stuck in the hole? or has it dislodged itself? and fallen into the head?

9ENGEL · 09-04-2006, 02:43 PM

Some have had luck sucking them out with a shop-vac.

BuilderBob · 09-04-2006, 02:46 PM

Important question, for further reference;
What is brand name, of the broken GP?

Ambulance101 · 09-04-2006, 11:08 PM

The tip is still stuck in the hole pretty far down and has not gotten into the head. To answer the other question: It is one of the german made ones that starts with a B. Made by motorcraft?. Thanks guys!

Birken Vogt · 09-04-2006, 11:45 PM

Before doing anything further, remove the injector of the cylinder in question and bring the piston up to TDC. This way the tip if it falls down further cannot get into the engine proper. I know how difficult it is to work on these. I still have an IDI ambulance in reserve service although the replacement is scheduled to arrive this fall/winter, hallelujah!

Birken

Ambulance101 · 09-04-2006, 11:57 PM

Dont wanna sound dumb but what is TDC?. My Ambulance is used mostly to represent churches in christmas parades and for bible school and etc. Thanks

OkieGringo · 09-05-2006, 01:35 AM

TDC =Top Dead Center= Top of Stroke

cdnsarguy · 09-05-2006, 02:29 AM

Pick the right cylinder then bring that piston to TDC.........

The timing mark is found on a little plate that is on the front of the engine on the passenger side. The plate is mounted so it is very close to the main pulley on the lower front of the engine which is mounted on the vibration damper. On the side of the vibration damper, is a line, which when lined up with the line marked (O) on the plate, tells you that the #1 piston is at TDC(top dead center) You can see the line on the damper, and it points to the line on the plate with the (barely visible)O mark on it.You'll have to find a way to turn your engine over by hand. Make sure you remove the power wire to the injection pump(so the engine won't start)and then rotate the engine until you can line up the marks.

The engine rotates in a clockwise direction as seen from the front of the truck, and for every 1/4 turn of the engine(crank) each next piston will arrive at TDC. So, When the line on the vibration damper is at the 2 oclock position, cylinders 2 and 5 will be at TDC. When the mark is at the 5 oclock position, cylinders 7 and 6 will be at TDC, 8 oclock has cylinders 3 and 8 at TDC, and back to 11oclock, 1 and 4 will be at TDC.

Cylinder numbers are assigned 1,3,5,7 on the left(passenger) bank from front of truck to back, and 2,4,6,8 on the driver's side, front to back. Firing order is 1,2,7,3,4,5,6,8.

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Ambulance101 · 09-12-2006, 11:02 AM

Back to the drawing board.....Multiple attempts to remove the tip have been futile so far. Have tried the Vacuum thing as well as WD-40. Pulling at it over and over with needle nose pliers and still no luck. Its like the dang thing is welded in there. Am going to keep trying so any more ideas would be graciously appreciated. Carl

agnem · 09-12-2006, 01:00 PM

Carl, I can't under emphasize the importance of bringing that piston up to TDC. Especially since you have a van. This is one of those deals where an ounce of prevention is worth literally hundreds of pounds of cure. Get the piston at TDC. Take an old injector, and figure out a way to put compressed air through it, and put it back in the hole. You must find a way to keep that crank locked at TDC. With compressed air in the injector then, you would be able to use small drill bits to try and drill out the tip. A dremel tool would be the best to work with. Be carefull flooding it with lubricants, if you fill the cylinder you might hydro lock it, so once you get past all this, be sure to hand crank it with the glow plug or injector out to let any built up fluid escape.

Forcus · 09-12-2006, 03:52 PM

I think agnem has the best idea yet to avoid taking the engine out. I thought of a drill bit but didn't think of applying air through the injector hole to force the tip and the pieces out.

I bet if you can't find an air chuck that will screw in to the injector hole, you can gut a stock injector and have a shop weld the chuck to the injector housing. I fully believe this would work and keep you from having to yank the thing out!

If you don't have an air compressor or a way to put compressed air in, make the injector adapter and maybe have one of the heavy duty tire (semi, etc) repair shops come out and put the pressure in the cylinder while you drill at the glow plug. They have onboard air on their trucks. One other thing you probably don't want to be standing over the GP when it blows out.

**bugman** · 09-12-2006, 05:17 PM

Here is an idea the Dale Isley came up with. At least I think that he was the one.

Good description - if you don't mind I'll add a few things. If you have a compressor, I use a blow head to blow the oil out from around the glow plugs. Just cover your hand with a shop towel and a short burst would do it.

Using a 1/4" drive deep socket to loosen the plug, you will need to remove it before the plug can back all the way out or the socket will wedge into the rocker arm and you won't have the clearance to get it out. I usually use the socket to get it loose and a length of 1/4" vac hose to slip over the end of the plug and you can spin it out with that.

If you get a plug stuck because of a carbon head on the end of it, you can fashion a puller from a small needle nose vise grips to get it out. Take a look here:
http://community.webshots.com/photo/...31720211IzdVEU

I used a long bolt to replace the stock adjustment bolt on the vise grip. For a slide weight, I used a couple acorn nuts off a semi welded together, but you could use about anything that will slip over the diameter of the bolt. You end up with this:
http://community.webshots.com/photo/...31720211SslSfn

Use the vise grip to grab the end securely, then use the slide to knock the plug back into the engine. A little carb cleaner and a good yank will usually get it out. If it wedges tight again, just repeat the process until you get enough carbon knocked off to remove the glow plug from the head.

Much easier and quicker than pulling the head. Torque spec for installing the plugs is 14lbs ft (168lbs inch).

Jim

Ambulance101 · 09-17-2006, 04:47 PM

Thanks guys for all the suggestions and rest assured I am still going to try every method possible to get it out but just in case I CAN'T, I have a question: Could I possibly Put a self tapping a screw with a head larger than the broken tip into the hollow part that is sticking out, snug it up tight (where it cant fall into the block) and then rescrew the other broken piece that has threads on it into place so that there will be no chance of the tip blowing or falling out and then run the engine as usual?. Could this possibly work?. Thanks....Carl

Ambulance101 · 10-02-2006, 07:10 PM

Hallelujah! I finally got it out! Thanks again guys for all the ideas but you wont believe how I got it out and maybe my strange cure will work for someone else?. First I took a can of P-B and sprayed it full then waited almost 4 hours then took a long screw like you use in decks and screwed into the broken off end as tight as I could and then took a pair of large slip joint pliers and gripped the screw just below the head and then hit the plier handles very hard thus causing a lever like motion and voila! it popped out still attached to the screw. Now I've just got to tighten down the new one and put all the mess back together which should take up another full saturday [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img] ugh!. Thanks again for the help....Carl