XSeries-forum

Anyone have a DIY guide for changing glow plugs? Mine need replaced and thought if I could do it myself I might as well save a bit of £!

I'm in no way mechanically minded, so not sure if it would even be within my ability or not.

[quote="grumpywurzel"]
According to my scanner I have 4 duff glow plugs and touch wood I haven't had an issue starting mine in the 3 yrs apart from  when my battery fell on its arse.

Must get around to having them changed I guess,  I have seen pics on here somewhere of someone doing the plugs and it looked more like open heart surgery!
[/quote]

from another thread in here ..... before you start you might want to brush up on A) your swearing and B) your surgical skills

Hmm, might give it a miss then!

I'll be honest i've never done glow plugs on a bmw ...... i'd probably have a go though

I think it is a good idea to put something like WD40 on them for a while.  Not unusual to have these spawn of Satan break on you.  YouTube will have videos to help too 

Haven't replaced the glow plugs on an X5 but changed plenty on Audis over the years. A word of caution, before attempting to remove, then spray Duck Oil penetrating release on the plugs a good 2-3 days before attempting the job. The next key thing is to only do the job if the car has been up to operating temperature. Do this on a siezed plug from cold and you risk breaking it, and then we're talking head off job, or source a specialist to remove.

I'd also use a 3/8 socket wrench and just go with a gut instinct as to how much pressure to apply.
http://xdrivers.co.uk/forum/https://xdr ... ic.php?t=0

New plugs, apply a little copper ease on the thread before tightening, and don't over-torque.

Lol, it's sounding very like a job for the mechanic!

Cheers for the replies though.

I have changed plugs on a different motor, but looking at the engine bay I just feel like I can't be arsed. How on earth do you get to the ones at the back of the engine without Mr Tickle arms and a trip to A&E for a dislocated elbow :'(

A few others have said they have changed plugs only to be defeated by a knackered glow plug controller too...

[quote="Lyons"]
Anyone have a DIY guide for changing glow plugs? Mine need replaced and thought if I could do it myself I might as well save a bit of £!

I'm in no way mechanically minded, so not sure if it would even be within my ability or not.
[/quote]

LEt's turn this around - How do you know they need replaced? Sometime its the glow plug controller and that is an easier and quicker job if I recall correctly. You could end up changing the plugs only to find it was the controller all along and sometimes you need to do both the plugs and the controller

I thought about changing mine yesterday, as have all the gubbins off whilst changing turbo.

Remove engine noise covers, the big one and the little bit at back. 5mm Allen key, although I also had 1 10mm bolt?

Undo egr pipes (cooler input and the brassy looking recirculation one) brassy recirculation is a worm drive type with flanges on and the cooler has a spring type self clip, just pull the indent out and it clips back and just slides off front of egr. Remove vac line from egr.

At very rear of the inlet manifold, on right rear corner, there is a another bolt holding a couple of brackets on, take that 10mm bolt out. There is another 10mm bolt holding the dipstick bracket on right side, take that out.

Disconnect the fuel rail pressure sensor (or whatever it is) at the far back. You can see it and it comes off towards the right, push plastic retainer (on the side nearest you) away from to (towards back of car). Almost next to this, bit bit more to your right and bit lower to the ground, another sensor to Disconnect (push wire retainer in towards front of car and it comes off toward the ground, straight down easily).

Undo the 12 10mm bolts that are easily seen on the inlet pipes (they don't come out, they are clipped into the manifold). Watch for the 3rd bolt from rear, it has a clip for the engine cover that is loose when bolt undone and can be dropped etc.

Remove the 6 or 7 12mm nuts from the recesses of the intake manifold (5 down in each gap between seperate pipes, plus 1 in front of first inlet pipe finger and 1 at rear after last inlet finger). Be careful not to drop them if your sockets don't have any magnetism. The one on the back is near the brackets and sensors you've removed. I used a little mirror to find these rear bits, came in handy.

Remove intake manifold, watching the injector wires to the left.

Boom, your at the plugs:

Give them some extra pen lube and hope they don't break lol

Reverse in reverse. Make sure gasket surface areas are clean and fit new gaskets if you wish (it's recommended I believe) before replacing intake manifold. I'd give the egr a clean as well and intake manifold if needed (mine were stinking dirty and I got a 1/4 cup of soot coke and oily gunk out, yuk)

However I have no ideas about the torque values, trying to find them myself!

Edit, just saw this is 3 months old, but might help others in future.

Just done my plugs,  to reach the rear most you simply remove the scuttle panal that holds the pollen filter,  then the entire rear area is open, no skin off or bruises, i had read it was a nightmare but as long as you have the right tools  its easy. 
main tools  10, 11 and 12mm deep sockets for the manilfold nuts and bolts, pref  smaller  1/4 or 3/8 drive, 5mm allen key,  small mirror for looking at the rearmost bolt and sensor plugs to detach,  watch them little locating spring wire things in the connectors to the sensors.  i dropped one  never to be seen again .
also a good time to inspect the vacuum pipes that are hidden away under the inlet.