I have managed to snap a glow plug 3/4 of the way down inside of its hole, I have removed the thread and most of the plug. What can I do about the remaining piece? Is it safe to drive with this back inside? Should I screw the broken part back in to cover the hole? Somebody help please, I cannot afford to go without my car and I cannot afford to get the head removed.

Hi James,

unfortunately your options are limited. I would suggest a small amount of adhesive tape or something similar is applied to the end of the plug you have out, and re, insert, the hope is that it will stick to the remaining part, and as long as its not seizes, you may be able to let it settle and then twist the remainder out. Alternatively the other answer would be long nose pliers and see if you can grab it.

Could you post some images? The method I used extracting spark plugs may work, but I won't waste my breath until I've seen a picture :)

If its a 1.6tdci then good luck getting the broken off bit out. Ive seen cyl heads off and a punch hitting the glow plug end hard trying to get them out , they can be stuck solid.

The same happened to me, just 1 glo plug tip broke off at the main body, so the full tip was stuck in the head, what i did was to soak it in penetrating oil for 3 days, then i drilled out the old broken glo plug all the way through with a long 3.3mm drill bit, sawn off the tip where the wire fits onto, and i now had a home made guide ready for drilling out the stuck glo plug tip, after drilling out the tip i then tapped it with a 4mm extra long tap, i bought a piece of 200mm long 4mm threaded rod from ebay and screwed it into the broken glo plug then just pulled it out, this is a similar way to the very expensive tip extractor kits that are available,i used a another old plug and did the same but drilled it through with a 4.5mm drill bit so i could use that one as a guide for tapping the thread, i hope this helps and works for others. I will say that changing the glo plugs is not an easy job on a cmax 1.6 tdci, everything is hard to get to, good luck.