[Vwdiesel] Easy out and glow plug

[Val Christian]

My 77 Rabbit has a bad glow plug on the #1 cylinder.  I was working outside.
Managing not to drop anything into the snow, I got the bus bar off, had
all the nuts and washers, and had a 12mm box wrench in my hand.   I
think it was 10F that day.

As I applied torque via the wrench, I thought I felt a small turning
movement on the glow plug.  Then it stopped.  With a rachet handle
I tapped the box wrench to encourage things to start moving again.
With the force I was exerting, I figured I was putting 40 ft/lbs
on the glowplug.  Tapping it.  Liquid wrench on the threaded area.

Then it moved.  Well, part of it.  In the end, I had the hex portion
of the glowplug in the wrench, and the threaded part in the cylinder
head.

Got out the EZouts, found one for a maximal fit.  Used a tire spoon to
leverage it in.  Wrench on the backside.  Tugging.  Snap.

Later, one of the metallurgists told me that 10F is pretty close to the
maximal brittleness of EZouts.

Anyway, I drove that 77 for many more years, with only three working
glowplugs, and one with an EZout embedded in it.  At about 225Kmiles
the head came off, and the EZout and glowplug were extracted without
further consequence.

FWIW, 0F is near the maximal brittleness point for sockets and other
tools.  One more reason to own a (heated) garage for work.  ...yes,
I can see the justification now...I need a heated garage so I don't
break any tools...

Val