Not sure if it has been done before but here is a short guide to replacing the heater plugs on a PD engined VAG car.

Firstly remove the timing belt top cover held in place with three clips. Then remove 2 x 10mm bolts on the front of the cam cover that hold two brackets affixed to the fuel pipes that run along the front of the cam cover,this will allow the pipes to be lifted/moved forward allowing access to the torx bolts that run along the front of the cam cover.

Remove the breather pipe from the cam cover and then loosen all the torx bolts that hold the cam cover on,the bolts will not fall out or come out of the cover completely so no danger of loosing one!!!!

Next lift the cover it can be a bit of a fiddle but gently gently and it will manoeuvre up and off.

Inside the cover you will see the injector/glow plug harness,follow the wires and you will see they are just pushed on to the top of the glow plugs so carefully using pin nosed pliers grip the push on connector and using a GENTLE lift/twisting motion pull the connector off the glow plugs.

Next using a deep 8mm 1/4" drive socket on an extension loosen the glow plugs and lift them out either using a magnet pick up tool or pin nosed pliers.

Replace the glow plugs ensuring you start them using hand pressure only to ensure you do not cross thread them and just nip them tight,remember you are just in alloy.

Pop the push on connectors back on using pin nosed pliers to locate them on and then a screwdriver or similar to push them home.

Refit the cam cover its rare you will need a new seal as they are a good quality rubber and refit breather pipe,fuel pipe bolts and cam belt top cover.

Clear any stored codes,start the engine and double check there are no oil leaks.

This job should take less than an hour and NGK plugs are £12/14 each and will stop that pesky light coming on in the morning.

Absolutely brilliant guide from what I can see!

Was going to go to a garage to have this done but it's almost as simple as replacing spark plugs so no reason I can't do this.

Thank you!

Any body else done this as I've seen comments that the thread is really weak and this shouldn't be attempted unless confident your not gonna rip said thread out?

Is this a 2.0 PD?

 

all the 1.9 PD engines I have come across have had external glow plugs so maybe you should put this in the thread title to stop people diving into the head of their PD engined car under fault pretences