e3steve wrote ...

Dave, two or three of mine sheared when I changed them out. I then had to drain off coolant and remove the oil filter and the coolant output tank in order to gain access with my own extractor, the use of which required removal of the bonnet to allow enough room to use my "slide hammer" on the front bank's glowplug!

I had to drill out the insulators with with a 5mm drill, then tap an M6 thread into which I screwed an 80cm length of studding, then I fashioned the slide hammer affair using a hollow, hefty tube -- in fact an old Kokusan m/c starter motor stator & housing from one of my old Hondas!

Once drilled and threaded, I soaked each sheared glowplug with a copious drenching of release agent and left the sodding lot overnight (while my overheated headspace cooled off).

Incidentally, since you're draining the coolant anyway (to replace the water pump) it may be a good idea to replace the output tank ('stat housing) while you're "in there", if you've not already done so, or if you don't have documented assurance that it was replaced within the last 40 or 50k miles.

e3steve wrote ...

Yes Dave, I bought the NGK glowplugs. I trust NGK products!

The fuel return pipe ass'y is a one-piece affair, about 8mm OD and sleeved with grey nylon braid; it links all the injectors and runs from both front and rear banks, meeting at the fuel temperature sensor which nests in the Y-split of the throttle butterfly and atop the coolant output tank. !! in this image:





You should be OK as long as you don't try to bend the damned thing out of the way, as I did(!). It 'loops' over each of the throttle butterfly's outlets in order to join at the fuel temp sensor (red connector).

e3steve wrote ...

Yes Dave, your question makes perfect sense. And yes, you should be fine if you're careful with handling the ass'y.

I think I was a bit heavy-handed in trying to clean off the oily mess left by the filthy, black O-rings as I extracted the butterfly from the air boxes!

I lifted the fuel temp sensor up too far. That was my first mistake. One of the pipes snapped off at the sensor! Then, as I traced the pipe to the front bank's first injector, it snapped off there too. B u g g e r! Of course, by that point, little did I know that it was well beyond any redemption...

That's just the tip of the iceberg. Prising out the clips and extracting the unions from the front bank of injectors is straightforward enough (once you've removed the injectors' high pressure lines); but the rear bank is a whole new ball-ache.

Then, as the clips ping off and are consumed by that Bermuda Triangle a.k.a. "The Garage Floor", you start to question whether or not to push the car out of the garage, down the drive and into the middle of the road and just set fire the feckin' barsterd ar$ehole thing and be done with it...

321dave wrote ...

Just thinking, is there anything else that could go wrong Steve? That's about it in the engine bay for the moment

gmerry wrote ...

Hi 321Dave and others, I'll be using high temperature Loctite Silvergrade anti-seize when I get around to doing mine, here's the datasheet:-

- Click Here -

In the meantime, I note my preheat symbol now comes on for every cold start whereas previously I only ever saw it at -5 degrees or so. Is this a sign that most of them have already failed?

Regards
G

e3steve wrote ...

I s'pose a tsunami could engulf Dublin whilst your car is in bits...

The coolant inlet can be a leaky little git -- ask Phil -- as it can weep, but you can't see it. A real challenge to change out, especially while working in cold conditions. Alternator off; a/c pump off (not necessarily disconnected from the hoses though) but, once again, the cooling system will already be drained down and the undertray and, sensibly, the front bumper will be off, plus the o/s/f wheel is off and the arch liner removed, which makes you already 30-40% into the task.

Well, you did ask!