That time a veteran tech told me to stop using anti-seize on glow plugs

Old timer named Dave at the shop near Texarkana swore I was wrecking threads by putting anti-seize on glow plugs. I argued with him for a solid 10 minutes saying it's standard practice on anything with steel threads going into aluminum. Tell you what though, after I snapped one off in a 6.0 Powerstroke and spent 4 hours extracting it with a reverse drill bit I started thinking maybe he had a point. Anyone else run into issues with anti-seize on glow plugs or was I just unlucky that day?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_grace19d agoTop Commenter

Oh man, I gotta push back HARD on this. "Standard practice on anything with steel threads going into aluminum" is exactly where you're WRONG. Glow plugs are NOT regular bolts and using anti-seize on them is a recipe for disaster every single time. The torque values get all thrown off because the lubricant changes how tight it feels, so you either over tighten and snap them or under tighten and they back out. Factory service manuals for pretty much every diesel engine explicitly say DRY INSTALLATION for glow plugs. That old timer Dave knew his stuff. You weren't unlucky, you were following bad advice from someone who probably learned it working on brake calipers or exhaust manifolds where anti-seize makes sense.

michael_coleman1019d ago

Yeah I gotta say I agree with most of what you said but the one part about "pretty much every diesel engine" having that rule in the manual isn't totally right. My dad's old 6.5 Detroit actually says in the factory book to use anti-seize on the glow plugs and it even gives a different torque spec for it. But that's the weird exception not the rule. For most stuff like the 7.3 Powerstroke and the Cummins engines you're 100% right that dry is the way to go. @the_grace you hit the nail on the head about torque values getting thrown off though. I watched a buddy snap three glow plugs before he finally read the manual and did it dry.

emma_dixon7019d ago

Stopped reading when you said the torque values get thrown off because that's exactly what happened to me! I had no idea the lubricant could mess with how tight it felt but now it makes total sense. @the_grace you just saved me from breaking another glow plug on my 7.3. I cant believe I've been doing it wrong for so long and nobody called me out on it until that old timer Dave did. Guess I owe that guy an apology next time I'm near Texarkana.