Glow plug broke inside engine

[Jeepboy79]

After disassembling half the engine it seemed like to be able to get to all four plugs the fourth one decided it was going to snap inside. Upon taking the first turn of the socket wrench I felt a scraping sound like sand. Immediately I knew that wasn't good. The other three came out relatively painlessly.

I tried re tightening only to notice it wasn't happening either. I grabbed the end of the plug with my pliers and the guts of the plug came out. The shell and the tip are still in the channel. It appears the threads have become almost fused to the channel probably due to over heating. When I turned the head with the wrench the top of the plug twisted free from the rest. The core of the plug that came out is ceramic.

I'm at a loss how to remove the rest of the plug...

Any ideas?

[senatorjohn]

The service manual recommendation is to remove the head from what I read. Not good news.
John

[Jeepboy79]

Ffs....removing the head is really not an option for me right now.
Isn't there a way I can thread the inside of the plug and remove it that way?

[layback40]

Originally Posted by Jeepboy79

Ffs....removing the head is really not an option for me right now.
Isn't there a way I can thread the inside of the plug and remove it that way?

A Mercedes om606 is known for GP's getting stuck.
If you go to the peachparts web site & search stuck glow plugs you will find plenty of good information.

[Hanna]

I'm not exactly sure, but as I understand it you have just the threaded steel shell part left in there, yes?

You could possibly try an ezy out, but I would soak the thread with WD40 first overnight and then heat the area up with a propane torch as ezy outs are a very brittle high tensile material and they can snap in there leaving you in a world of hurt.

It would be worth getting a mobile mechanic out for a look. When I lived in Geelong I remember we had one that specialized in broken bolt etc. Removal.

Good luck mate!

[Jeepboy79]

Originally Posted by Hanna

I'm not exactly sure, but as I understand it you have just the threaded steel shell part left in there, yes?

You could possibly try an ezy out, but I would soak the thread with WD40 first overnight and then heat the area up with a propane torch as ezy outs are a very brittle high tensile material and they can snap in there leaving you in a world of hurt.

It would be worth getting a mobile mechanic out for a look. When I lived in Geelong I remember we had one that specialized in broken bolt etc. Removal.

Good luck mate!

Yes that's correct...

I've spoken to a mechanic who's at least willing to check it and see if it's possible.

I just can't believe that single plug can cause this. Never in my wildest dreams would I have seen this happening. Im still coming to terms with going from changing a plug, to talking about removing the top half of the engine.

Is this a jeep thing? My non-jeep mates were not too subtle about pointing out that this is a problem more common to jeeps because of the alloy heads? Is this right?

[MidnightMods]

Your friends are just jeep bashing wankers. It can happen in any car.
A simple thing like removing them while the engine is warm prevents them breaking, Same thing goes in aiding the removal of CRD injectors