Glow plug life span?

[chevymike]

I was looking at AC60G's and Kennedy's QH and went with the Kennedy's because they had a sale a few weeks back. Seems like they have gotten very good reviews and happy to say I got all my Wellman 070's out without any issues and the new ones in. Took me about an hour and that included replacing the wire connectors at the glow plugs.

 

[WARWAG]

Just finished up metering all of my glow plugs. One glow plug measured 1.5 Ohms. Thats a good one. Four metered 1.0 Ohms and the rest 0.5 Ohms. Those 7 are all bad. I knew some were bad since it would start up and have a rough idle. What im surprised about is how cold she would still start up at. In the low 30s. Cant wait for my new GP to arrive!

 

[DIESELGREEN]

Sounds good, WARWAG. I will be looking out for that comparison. My main reasoning in my choice is retaining the "fast glow" capability of the plugs, like the stock ones were intended to perform.

 

[67_C-30]

Unless he has switched brands, Kennedy's Quick Heats are made by WAP, Inc/Wellman, and they are bad about swelling. I bought a set a few years ago and they were dead in less than 2 years, and 3 of them had toi been broken off and recovered through injector hole (luckily I didn't have to pull either head.) I've been running these engines for over 15 years, and i've seen pretty much all of the different GP's AC 60's or Bosch Duraterms are the only ones that will go in my engines. Neither of these have ever swollen in my engines, and I can usualluy get 5+ years of service out of a 60 G's. I'm not not sure about the Bosch's yet. I put a set in one of my trucks 3 1/2 years yet, and they are still working great.

 

[WARWAG]

Well I went into town today and swung by my NAPA store. I ordered the AC60Gs online thru NAPA and they said I would receive an email when they arrived. Well no email but they were in. One day turn around! I just finished installing them and it is pretty easy. The hardest are the last two on the passenger side closest to firewall and the last one on the drivers side closest to the firewall. Not really hard just takes a few minutes more. I had all of them changed out in about 30 minutes including taking pics and converting to the bigger female blade recepticle. The only good GP in the old set looked no diffrent than the rest. All looked pretty new to me. They were the Swellmans I mean Wellmans. None were swelled and that tells me they are not that old. The AC60Gs seem to be better made from a visual stand point at least. Install was a snap and I used just a dab of Dielectric grease on the connectors and a very small amount of anti-seize on the threads. For installation I guess one could pull the rear battery to make it easier but I suspect there would be more work involved than its worth. I left the battery in its tray. Just take your time on the back two passenger side ones and all will go smooth. A step stool is a must unless your 6'8". Set up a production line. Anti-seize all of tthe Glow Plugs first and line them up where they wont fall off and will be easy to reach from each side you will be working on. Same goes for the female connectors. A small dab of dielectric grease on each before you start. When your in position cut off all of the original connectors as close as possible to the end of the connector. Use your wire stripper and strip off only about 3/16" of an inch to 1/4" max. Do this on all of them (4 on the side your working on) at the same time. Now reach up and grab one of the connectors and crimp it on. Do all at the same time. Reach up and grab the Glow plug. Install all at the same time. Push on each connector. Your done on that side. Repeat on the other side. Simple! Your crimper should look like the one I used. The standard type on a wire stripper is not desired in the small space you need to crimp the connectors in. Good Luck and lets hear what Glow Plugs you all have installed.

 

[WARWAG]

Last of the pictures. The only tool not pictured was the step stool (stock hieght vehicle).

 

[Apoc Bane]

Thanks for the write up Warwag

I just bought some Kennedy's to swap.

What size blue connectors did you get or where did you get them? Sorry for the lame question. Were they at NAPA too?

 

[chevymike]

I can answer the the connector question. They are standard .250 (1/4") female spade connector for a 14-16 gauge wire (blue insulation). NAPA or most any auto parts store would have them. Even electrical supply places or places that deal with car audio should have them as well.

 

[Apoc Bane]

Thanks a lot Mike!

 

[WARWAG]

Thanks ChevyMike. Im sitting in Mobile Alabama airport waiting for my ride. Been traveling for the last two days. Yes they are the standard 1/4" blue connectors. Just try and fit one on before you replace all of them........... That way there will not be any mistakes.

 

[Cucvnut]

Cool man I am getting my 60g's today they fit with no problems ? ill take pics of mine also.

 

[GFB]

You can either change your connectors, or just grind down the spade on the new plugs to the width of the old ones. I did that. It took 5 seconds on a bench grinder for each plug.

 

[M1008driver]

I was wondering why you did not use the insulated connectors? I agree with changing them if you use the 60g's.

 

[Apoc Bane]

You can either change your connectors, or just grind down the spade on the new plugs to the width of the old ones. I did that. It took 5 seconds on a bench grinder for each plug.

Wish I had a grinder to do so.... hmm maybe a dremel.

 

[chevymike]

I thought about doing the grinder thing to the glow plugs but my thinking was, since most replacements are the larger terminal, if I ever had to replace one on the road, I won't have my grinder with me.

I did use fully insulated female spade connectors so I have no exposed metal. The whole terminal is inside a plastic housing.

 

[Cucvnut]

Thats how i am doing it tomorrow on the truck.

 

[WARWAG]

On the Glow Plug spade there is a small square hole in the middle of the spade. If you grind it down then the spade will not have any strength.

 

[2ndrad]

60Gs

I put mine in today, changed out the old connectors to larger insulated ones in order to accomodate the larger spades and they are working like a champ!!!! All 8 in about 30 minutes with new conectors, great upgrade and no more rough idle at start up!! BTW they were on sale about $6 less than normal, ran the same as the standards from NAPA even with shipping. If you haven't doen it I highly recommend changing to these.

 

[rnd-motorsports]

Changed mine out last weekend used 60G's and changed the spade terms also about 20 min. BIG difference! had one out of the 8 welmans were still good

 

[kdaniels]

So i'm guessing the "wellmans" sold under command componets on ebay are not very good glow plugs ??? Wish i had done more research into the differnt brands as i have just installed a new set of these plugs. Not too late to swap'em out before they go bad. Just a pain in the butt to waste money on a substandard part.


SEMPER FI..


keith