2006 fiesta, 1.4 tcdi. When I turn the key I noticed no glow plug light and when it's cold it struggles to start, so I tested then glow plug relay and that's fine, so I decided to change the glow plugs. The very first one I removed the tip of it has snap off, now I'm pretty sure it is well and truly struck in the head and hasn't dropped in to the piston chamber, I'm also sure it's been that way for a while, is there any way to remove it without removing the head, if anyone has any ideas I'd greatly appreciate it.

Did the threaded bit unscrew? If so, put it back in, otherwise with engine running there is a chance the remaining part might come out like a bullet when engine running which could be very dangerous. I dont know how to get the remains out.   Did you try a multimeter on the glow plugs. I hope so, as trying to remove a glowplug that had not been proved to be dead is not a good idea, as they can snap, as you found.

Did the glow plug lamp come on before. On my fiesta it is only lit a handful of times a year and only when it’s very cold. I live in south of England which is not as cold as up north.  I’m not sure that lack of glowplug lamp means glow plugs are dead , they might be dead but I’m not sure that would stop the glowplug light from illuminating - can anyone else comment on that?

 

On 12/31/2022 at 7:47 PM, isetta said:

Did the glow plug lamp come on before. On my fiesta it is only lit a handful of times a year and only when it’s very cold. I live in south of England which is not as cold as up north.  I’m not sure that lack of glowplug lamp means glow plugs are dead , they might be dead but I’m not sure that would stop the glowplug light from illuminating - can anyone else comment on that?

 

hi isetta,

TBH no the glow plug never came on and yes it shot out like a bullet lol, maybe not the way to do it but it worked with no damage to me or the vehicle...so ive sorted that problem and i feel better knowing it has a full set of brand new glow plugs, but another issue cropped up last week, i pulled up outside home hadnt had any lights or any signs of breakdown so turned it off, locked it went in the house, next morning it would not start, so i found out that the hand priming bulb that is used to pump the diesel from the tank had a split letting air in so obviously no start, i ordered one and replaced it with comparative ease but for some reason it decides to go into limp mode , before replacing that part it ran sweet as a nut but now limp mode is bugging me. if you have any ideas please let me know and thanks in advance and thank you for commenting in my other issue

 

i had this exact problem last summer when doing "maintenance" on my 2007 1.4tdci. in my case it was the 2nd one that broke however the same would apply for anyone of them, after not wanting to remove the head i came across a mobile mechanic that said they can remove the glow plug tips from a cylinder without removing the head and if they failed there would be no charge. so figured worth a shot. that failed fast due to his location but it was also a blessing for me, the guy i spoke to was awesome and was more than happy to explain to me how he does it and what with. so i will now share that with you.

Remove the air filter and pull the injector from the cylinder you have the tip in (or the one it broke on if the tip is not in the cylinder yet tap it down with something suitable being careful not to damage the thread.

next if you have one pop an endoscope in there (will need to be 5mm or smaller scope to see in there) try locate where by it is.

turn the engine by hand slowly to move the cylinder to the bottom (not the top you want the extra room)

use a flexible magnet tool (the type with a screwdriver handle and bendy shaft with magnet on the end) to fish around inside until you get it onto the tip

then lift it VERY SLOW and steady as it will barely be magnetic so it will fall off easy.

 

if you get lucky it could be a quick job when i done mine i had it stripped and ready for fishing in under 5 min's but it was almost 5 hours before i actually got the tip out. could get it on the magnet quite easy but getting it up out the hole without knocking it off seemed almost impossible.  my best advice would be if your confident give it a go and be patient if your not then get it done by someone else you can do a fair amount of damage to various parts if you get it in there and rotate the engine while its there.

 

good luck and keep us updated.

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/184802679776

thats the magnet tool i used.

 

EDIT. just realized you sorted it lol but for anyone else with the problem above is anther possible solution 🙂

Thanks for putting that on here as it may well help others in the future. 

Thank you so much for confirming an idea I'd already had but I was still worried it may not work, but I've managed to do the glow plugs now but if I come across the problem again I will certainly do it this way, thanks again!!!!