Hi - put an amp clamp on my glow plug cable today and got 8 amps when it steadied out - so does everyone agree that I've only got one glow plug actually working? (Haynes says it should be 32amps ie 4*8amps).

That would be why it's so hard to start then...

decided to replace whole set with some good name brand ones.

Looking at the engine it looks like plug 2 will be impossible to remove without taking off the fuel pump or the cylinder head - does anyone have experience of this? Any advice would be most welcome

cheers Mark

(attached image of glow plug 2 stuck behind the solenoid on the fuel pump)

it's absolute balls-ache taking the injection pump off, you need to remove the timing belt and the pulley off the injection pump and disconnect about a zillion pressurized unions/hoses, just replace the 3 you can get to and live with it i'd say

hehe ok that sounds like a practical approach - but i find it hard to believe that the no2 glow plug is THAT hard to get out - has anyone here changed theirs? Haynes says we can expect them to be dying around 60k miles, must be pretty common. anyone? Bueller? Anyone?

probably best done while the head is off, and get the injectors serviced as well, but that costs a fair bit so it would be prohibitive in most cases

ah ok - just for the record it's not a big problem to get the plugs out, they're not long at all.

Just remove the injector pipes, then they are more accessable

Ever the optimist - maybe that's the one that's working:)

well it wasn't so much the worry of getting a spanner to the plug - i was concerned that it wouldn't have room to wiggle out of the engine block, but turns out that it came out fine.

Car is very much appreciating having 4 new plugs... still a little prone to starve/surge though... oh well.