I was consider the glow plugs, I've had the car eight years, and it's now 15 years old. And was pondering, due to its age and it now getting cold:

How long do the glow plugs last in these things? 

Is there a warning when they are not working? 

Does it come up on vcds when you do a scam if any are not working? 

Are they hard to change when they do need changing? 

Is there anything to know about changing them to make life easier? 

 

Car at present starts up fine. I was just wondering as I can recall back in the day replacing them on my astra mk1 and cavalier mk3. 

 

 

Depends, on early tdi engines the glowplugs were external, dead easy to test (they go open circuit) and easy to change. Not sure but on PD engines they are now inside the cam cover with all that involves. Later models do have glow plug monitoring but I have no idea how this works.

8v PD engines are external, only 16v engines are internal.

 

They arent really used much for cold start on the PD engine, they dont heat up above 8 degrees ambient. They come back on when the engine is running and cold for emission purposes and to lessen diesel knock.

 

You can check them quite easily with a multimeter. Target resistance will change depending on the type of glow plug.

Signs of failure are a lumpy idle when starting on a cold morning, coupled with  some white smoke from the tailpipe for a minute or so. I found one or two open circuit, so replaced the lot with a set from Germany on ebay.  Off the top of my head something like Beru GN046.

 

Easy enough to check with a multimeter, the resistance to earth should be around one ohm or less.  You could also check with a bulb and lead from the battery positive.

 

There is no fault code indication on a Skoda Mk1.  

 

The only fear I had was that the glow plug would break off when removing.  There are many scare stories on the internet. It's a 10mm deep socket that's needed.  I used a 1/4 inch ratchet to prevent me from exerting too much torque.  Some penetrating oil would probably help and some of your preferred anti-sieze compound when refitting..  It's only a small thread  with a tapered seat in an alloy head, so doesn't need to be too tight.

 

Edited 31 October, 20187 yr by Tdi1.9

...and here is some info from that wonderful site www.myturbodiesel.com:

 

https://www.myturbodiesel.com/wiki/glow-plug-removal-and-replacement-on-tdi/

Edited 31 October, 20187 yr by Tdi1.9