vw golf plus diesel 1896 cc - glow plugs

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Sat 5 Dec 2015 18:23
vw golf plus diesel 1896 cc - glow plugs - jowilliams

My golf plus is 6 years old, and I have had from new, and has done about 75000 miles. I moved to London 2 years ago and from the honest john site and reviews use Volks Autos in Sutton for maintenance. I may sell the car soon but was advised thet the cam belt should be replaced and did not wish to sell the car without having that done and one glow plug was not working so decided to have both jobs done and agreed to a verbal figure of about £650. I expected to collect the car last wed but was phoned to say that a glow plug had broken and that it would need boring out and the total would be £1117 or about that. I had a discussion with two mechanics about having the glow plugs done and neither mentioned this as a possibility . The mechanic who phoned me said it was unexpected with my car but can happen, quite frequently. I have not yet got the car back. Is the garage behaving reasonably? Will the glow plugs be a different size now. It was a lot of money to spend initially, and now seems a massive amount. I am a straighforward customer not a mechanic. Thanks

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Sat 5 Dec 2015 19:13
vw golf plus diesel 1896 cc - glow plugs - elekie&a/c doctor

Unfortunately this is not uncommon on modern diesel engines that use the the slim "pencil type"glow plugs.It is usually the lower part of the plug that seizes in the cylinder head,so when the hex nut is undone,the shaft breaks and leaves the lower part behind.There are specialist extraction tools to recover the broken parts,however it is not always a success.A good mechanic should know the procedure and advise the customer of the pitfalls of removal.Interestingly,the faulty glowplug could have been left alone with no major issues for starting or engine running.If the job has been done correctly,then the glowplug thread will be the same.

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Sat 5 Dec 2015 19:44
vw golf plus diesel 1896 cc - glow plugs - RobJP

As elekie doc says, basically. It can happen occasionally, and there's nothing you can do about it.

If a car starts well with only 3 glow plugs working, then far better to leave well alone. Unfortunately, you didn't know that in advance.

If you've spent that much money on the car, then might I suggest keeping it for another year or 2, if everything else is still fine with it ? The money that you've spent will not result in much extra value on the car if selling - maybe £2-300 at best.

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Sun 6 Dec 2015 16:30
vw golf plus diesel 1896 cc - glow plugs - Railroad.
Stainless steel threaded glow plugs in aluminium alloy threaded cylinder head are a recipe for disaster. Make sure you coat the threads of the new glow plugs with high temperature anti-seize paste when you fit them. That way they'll come out much easier next time.
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