After years of abuse I will say there is a lifetime for Bosch Duraterm plugs. The number of engine swaps and overhauls makes the exact years and miles fuzzy. I am guessing around 50K and 4 years on this set. They outlived several injector sets that died early and some IP's as well.
Patch has been getting harder to start lately so while repairing the fuel return lines I tested the glow plugs and 3 of 8 are out. As lamp life testing is number of hours before 50% are burned out... I'd say I have reached the life of the set. I am happy these came out without any issues. Even the passenger side one that the downpipe blocks was easy as I already had the turbo out of the way... Regardless this is the way it should be: removing non swollen bad glow plugs that have 99% of what was on them when they went into the engine. Anti seize is paying off here and there.
Currently the IP I am running is wonky with too little advance at idle and too much advance at light load here and there. This may have something to do with the glow plug life. It is rumored that over advanced timing will erode glow plugs. I also use a glow plug override in 30+ second bursts to get this pump to light. Even in AZ weather Glow Plugs help start things.
Looking over my collection of "useless" glow plugs removed from several engines I find that the casings appear to get a rust like texture here and there. So this condition isn't specific to me. I don't know if what is pictured is what is referred to as erosion or not.
For reference a clean used Wellman plug is on top with 1 good and 3 bad Duraterms.
For those that are thinking about running surplus or old Wellman's 070... Don't. Just lock one in a vise and power it on. I watched one swell up!
Patch has been getting harder to start lately so while repairing the fuel return lines I tested the glow plugs and 3 of 8 are out. As lamp life testing is number of hours before 50% are burned out... I'd say I have reached the life of the set. I am happy these came out without any issues. Even the passenger side one that the downpipe blocks was easy as I already had the turbo out of the way... Regardless this is the way it should be: removing non swollen bad glow plugs that have 99% of what was on them when they went into the engine. Anti seize is paying off here and there.
Currently the IP I am running is wonky with too little advance at idle and too much advance at light load here and there. This may have something to do with the glow plug life. It is rumored that over advanced timing will erode glow plugs. I also use a glow plug override in 30+ second bursts to get this pump to light. Even in AZ weather Glow Plugs help start things.
Looking over my collection of "useless" glow plugs removed from several engines I find that the casings appear to get a rust like texture here and there. So this condition isn't specific to me. I don't know if what is pictured is what is referred to as erosion or not.
For reference a clean used Wellman plug is on top with 1 good and 3 bad Duraterms.
For those that are thinking about running surplus or old Wellman's 070... Don't. Just lock one in a vise and power it on. I watched one swell up!
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