Sooted up glow plug

Ah changed me glow plugs tonight and found that ah had a problem removing No.2 plug. Managed to get it out and found that it was sooted up to the threads. Anyone got an idea what has caused this? Not sure if it is anything to do with the injector as ah ran the engine, loosened off the pipe and there was a difference to the running.
What d'ye reckon?



Cheers

A up Buster, is this any gud? 'The soot may well be occuring after the glow plug has failed as you will have unburnt fuel in that cylinder. Are you using good quality glow plugs? Is the engine running OK once it gets warm, no smoke or uneven running?'

Also cud it be the injector's spray pattern thats goosed?

D.G.F.S. said:

A up Buster, is this any gud? 'The soot may well be occuring after the glow plug has failed as you will have unburnt fuel in that cylinder. Are you using good quality glow plugs? Is the engine running OK once it gets warm, no smoke or uneven running?'

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Ayup mate, Don't recall the make of the glow plugs that were in... probably ****part. Replaced them now with Baermach apart from one as ah buggered the insulator trying to get it back out!
Engine seems to be running ok but does have some smoke even when up to temp.

D.G.F.S. said:

Also cud it be the injector's spray pattern thats goosed?

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Might be... ah've bin thinking on checking them for a while but never got round to it. If ah can't get to the local indy tomorrow ah'll have to wait till monday and get some new copper seals.

Why not whack sum Forte diesel treatment in? Forte. All the taxis use it before the mot. Mite be worth tryin it?

D.G.F.S. said:

Why not whack sum Forte diesel treatment in? Forte. All the taxis use it before the mot. Mite be worth tryin it?

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Bin runnin' 50% svo and it's had some redex stuff in it. Strange why it hasn't affected the other three tho'.

Just went and gave it a test on a spare battery and it took around 30 seconds to start glowin'... ot sure how much charge is in the battery but the indicator says it's okay.

bustersbus said:

Just went and gave it a test on a spare battery and it took around 30 seconds to start glowin'... ot sure how much charge is in the battery but the indicator says it's okay.

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Thats a buggerd glow plug then by the sounds of it , either that bust or youve had some blow by on the plug
if its sooted up the threads .

either way - slap the new ones in with coppa slip and test the injectors as u might have a crap spray pattern on the one .


.

Buster, on the cylinder that has the extra sooty plug you may find that for one or another reason there is engine oil in that cylinder (leaking stem seal etc...) which is making for a rather sooty black dirty burn in it. So it's sooting everything up. I had the EXACT same problem just a couple of months back where the stem seals had failed very badyly on the back 4 valves. The result was the glow plugs and injectors were baked in. When I took the head off to refurb I found that the valves and general area above those pistons was really sooted up and black.

I even tried the remove diesel to that injector to try and diagnose a problem and the sound changed. It was NOT injector related but stopping that cylinder firing certainly took away a weird sound

sypher said:

Thats a buggerd glow plug then by the sounds of it , either that bust or youve had some blow by on the plug
if its sooted up the threads .

either way - slap the new ones in with coppa slip and test the injectors as u might have a crap spray pattern on the one .


.

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Cheers fur that sypher. The soot isn't coming up the threads (just upto them) Ah've already stuck the plugs in with some copper slip mate

discomania said:

Buster, on the cylinder that has the extra sooty plug you may find that for one or another reason there is engine oil in that cylinder (leaking stem seal etc...) which is making for a rather sooty black dirty burn in it. So it's sooting everything up. I had the EXACT same problem just a couple of months back where the stem seals had failed very badyly on the back 4 valves. The result was the glow plugs and injectors were baked in. When I took the head off to refurb I found that the valves and general area above those pistons was really sooted up and black.

I even tried the remove diesel to that injector to try and diagnose a problem and the sound changed. It was NOT injector related but stopping that cylinder firing certainly took away a weird sound

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Nice one DM mate It looks like ah'm gonna have some fun then.
How long do ye reckon this type of job will take?... it's just tae give me an idea on how long the bus will be off the road for as it's me daily drive.
Ah did think about takin' the head off the white bus and doin' that up ready to stick back on... but don't really know what kinda state it's in and if it's worth it.

It took me 3 days, 1 easy day (5 hrs) to strip it down and get the head down to the shop for a 1 thou skim, exhaust valve guides replaced and pressure testing and things. Then got it back and finished the refurb. Then the 3rd day was a fairly easy day to do the rebuild, if you were not relying on a machine shop you could do it in 2 easy.

One of the best jobs I have ever done in terms of making the vehicle completely different afterwards.

discomania said:

It took me 3 days, 1 easy day (5 hrs) to strip it down and get the head down to the shop for a 1 thou skim, exhaust valve guides replaced and pressure testing and things. Then got it back and finished the refurb. Then the 3rd day was a fairly easy day to do the rebuild, if you were not relying on a machine shop you could do it in 2 easy.

One of the best jobs I have ever done in terms of making the vehicle completely different afterwards.

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Cheers again
Ah've managed to track down someone with a pressure tester so ah'll do that first to see what's what. Ah'm really hopin' it's summit in the head and not piston rings!

bustersbus said:

Cheers again
Ah've managed to track down someone with a pressure tester so ah'll do that first to see what's what. Ah'm really hopin' it's summit in the head and not piston rings!

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Well my engine has done about 140,000miles. The bores were good, I could still see the honing! All 4 passed the kero test (a squirt of kero round the edge of each piston to see how long it takes to leak away) the head really did need a good overhual. It failed the kero test on a lot of valves (squirt kero in from inlet port and see if it pours or weeps out at the valve seat).

I first noticed the leaking seals when I took the manifolds off, I then ran the engine like that and the oil was SPLASHING about above the valves there was so much of it.

I know you will be up for the head off plan, but if your tight for time you could try doing the seals from the top.

Give me a PM if you need details of a good machine shop, I know you are down south a bit but I used one in Glasgow, I was really impressed with their work. Proper old school machine shop boys.

Just a wee update...

Went to a couple of garages today to see if they could pressure test the bus and was told it doesn't need it as it sounds just fine. One garage let me use their tools to re-tap the glowplug hole as the glowplug wasn't sitting just right compaired to the others. Must say it did make a difference.. less vibration on start up but there's still some smoke under load. Ah was given the name of another place to try (away out in the sticks somewheres) as this guy deals only in landy stuff, so when ah get some time ah'll give him a phone and maybe get him to do a pressure test just to ease my mind

Just back from havin' the compression test and all is well with that. All the cylinders are puttin' out 400psi and have bin told this is quite good for this engine. He asked if ah'd bin usin' cookin' oil as it can sometimes make summit inside the injector pump become sticky. He told me to run some injector cleaner through it for a bit to see if it helps and if not then he'll set me timin' properly fur me. The best bit is he didn't even charge me.... Grand