Heater Plug

Detailed Description

The demand of cheaper spare parts is always high, leaving the familiar path of oem brands lead the customer into a wildernass plenty of great opportunity but also full of dangerous products. We seriously think there are some manufacturers which really deserve attention, and looking at the datas collected by our tests on many products on the market, there are manufacturers with a lot of potential and with very good quality products. On the other hand, however, there are also many manufacturers with awful products. Too many times we see distributors leaving the compatible spare parts market after having problems with such horrible products. Most of the times it ends with the customer going back to the oem brand without really exploring and testing what the spare parts market can really offer in terms of quality, service and prices. This small guide is intended to drive a customer on the choice of the right quality glow plug, this guide is not intended to be part of an advertising campaign, so we will not speak about what our company do and what we don't do, we'll just expose some very important requirement a well made glow plug should match. With a very few tools anyone will be able to check and compare products on the market building his own opinion. Point 1: THE TUBE Materials used in a glow plug makes the big difference in term of price. The material used for the components is mainly iron, with the exception of the tube containing the resistor. The tube must be made with nichel-crome alloy known to the world with the term of Inconel or Nicrofer, or just Alloy 601. This alloy is commonly used for its resistance to corrosion, carbon deposit and temperature. The glow plug's tube works in the combustion chamber or pre-chamber in contact with high temperature and exausted gas, using cheaper materials usually ends with a huge carbon deposit forming on the glow plug's tube after a few months. The tube is great part of the glow plug components cost, using a cheap tube usually ends up with a very cheap glow plug. Point 2: THE BODY The body has a very important role when designing a glow plug. It holds the heating tube and the junction between the body and the tube is crucial. Tube is embedded in the body with a hydraulic press, the pression should be carefully checked, using too much force can internally damage the glow plug, using low force can have the glow plug fired out the engine head. Also tolerance is very important to limit the difference between the minimum and maximum force needed, limiting the waste and having a better quality product. As usual a large tolerance body is cheaper then a tight tolerance body. Also the dimensions are very important, thread, diameters, conus angle, everything must be exactly like the oem glow plug, if not there can be problems fitting the glow plug in the engine. The body is usually coated with a chemical-treatment to resist salty mist avoiding rust. A cheaper tratment can be money saving but can expose the body to oxydation. Point 3: THE RESISTOR FILAMENTS Filaments are crucial. The resistor is the hearth of the glow plug, a good filament is essential to make a good glow plug. It's not of great importance having a double filament or a single filament glow plug, a good glow plug can be made with both technologies, they both perform better in some situations and worse in other one, it's very important to have a good manufacturer using the right machines and alloys. Professional equipments to check glow plugs have optical pyrometers ( istruments able of capturing a objects temperature by infrared sensor) and trace a diagram temperature - current, time. This is what we call characterisation, and it's the glow plug's fingerprint. Professional equipments are quite expensive, and a laboratory is necessary for a producer, but not essential for glow plugs customers. There are a couple of tests anyone can do to check the quality of a glow plug, using a clock, a 12V or 24V battery and two cables with clips. TIMING: using the cables connect positive wire to the upper terminal, and negative wire to the body, connect wires to the battery, immediatly the glow plug start to heat on (be carefull, do not hold the glow plug with your hands). Start the clock in the exact time you connect the last cable to the battery and stop the clock when the portion between glow plug'tip and 8mm away is red-hot. The time must match the glow plug specific heating time declared on the catalogue. Usually it must be HEATING QUALITY: Watch the glow plug while heating up. You must see the heat starting from the tip, then spreading slowly in body direction untill the glow plug's temperature get to the higher point. That is a good heating quality. If a new glow plug starts heating from the body or from the middle of the tube you're probably looking at a bad quality glow plug. The injector's stream points in an area between the tip and 8 mm from the glow plug's tip. AUTO REGULATION: A glow plug for vehicles from 1990 on is usually heated for longer time, up to 180 seconds at 13V-14V, so it is very important the resistor is made with one or two auto regulating filaments (it can be monofilament or double filament glow plug). To check it by yourself just heat the glow plug and keep it heated with a battery for a longer time, up to 5 minutes. Sadly you can't have the waranty it doesn't burn out at 13V-14V using just a battery, you should use a power supplier (alternate current is fine if you haven't access to a stabilized one). Point 4: GLOW PLUG LIFE SPAN Lifespan is the most important feature and strictly connected to heating time. Usually the hard point is having a fast glow plug with long lifespan, on the contrary is very easy to have a long life but very slow glow plug. When the heating time is under 8 seconds, likeley between 5 and 7 seconds, lifespan is the mirror of the glow plug's manufacturing quality. If the manufacturing process has some lacks it will probably produce a short life glow plug. Sadly the only way to test glow plug's lifespan is with professional equipment, it must be started at 11-12V then kept for minutes at 13-14V, cooled down to ambient temperature or less and then the cycle must restart again. This must go on for thousands of cycles. If you have timer and some electric equipment maybe you can build a rudimental tester by yourself, you will be able to perform some comparative tests. Point 7: DIMENSIONS Recent glow plugs for direct injection engines usually fit in very small holes, the difference between the OEM glow plug and the suitable glow plug should be very slight, for diameters particularly. For example, there is a reference where a tube diameter of 5,2 mm instead the original OEM tube diameter of 5 mm cause the suitable glow plug to knock in the engine hole. Having the right dimensions means big investments in tools, and a higher manufacturing cost. Point 6: PATENTS Oh yes, there are patents for glow plugs, especially for resistor materials. Breaching a patent is an easy way to do a decent product without investment, but can seriously put the manufacturer and the buyer in trouble. If you don't want to get in trouble check the glow plugs patents on the web or ask your supplier a declaration they're not breaking any patent or they're using their own patent, this can be of help in case of trouble. There are companies, big or small, investing in research and development of their own patents and alloys, buy from them. What exposed are just some basic points to check glow plug's quality. Glow plug design and manufacturing process are far more complicated and full of little tips which really can make the big difference, even between good quality products. The demand of cheaper spare parts is always high, leaving the familiar path of oem brands lead the customer into a wildernass plenty of great opportunity but also full of dangerous products. We seriously think there are some manufacturers which really deserve attention, and looking at the datas collected by our tests on many products on the market, there are manufacturers with a lot of potential and with very good quality products. On the other hand, however, there are also many manufacturers with awful products. Too many times we see distributors leaving the compatible spare parts market after having problems with such horrible products. Most of the times it ends with the customer going back to the oem brand without really exploring and testing what the spare parts market can really offer in terms of quality, service and prices. This small guide is intended to drive a customer on the choice of the right quality glow plug, this guide is not intended to be part of an advertising campaign, so we will not speak about what our company do and what we don't do, we'll just expose some very important requirement a well made glow plug should match. With a very few tools anyone will be able to check and compare products on the market building his own opinion. Point 1: THE TUBE Materials used in a glow plug makes the big difference in term of price. The material used for the components is mainly iron, with the exception of the tube containing the resistor. The tube must be made with nichel-crome alloy known to the world with the term of Inconel or Nicrofer, or just Alloy 601. This alloy is commonly used for its resistance to corrosion, carbon deposit and temperature. The glow plug's tube works in the combustion chamber or pre-chamber in contact with high temperature and exausted gas, using cheaper materials usually ends with a huge carbon deposit forming on the glow plug's tube after a few months. The tube is great part of the glow plug components cost, using a cheap tube usually ends up with a very cheap glow plug. Point 2: THE BODY The body has a very important role when designing a glow plug. It holds the heating tube and the junction between the body and the tube is crucial. Tube is embedded in the body with a hydraulic press, the pression should be carefully checked, using too much force can internally damage the glow plug, using low force can have the glow plug fired out the engine head. Also tolerance is very important to limit the difference between the minimum and maximum force needed, limiting the waste and having a better quality product. As usual a large tolerance body is cheaper then a tight tolerance body. Also the dimensions are very important, thread, diameters, conus angle, everything must be exactly like the oem glow plug, if not there can be problems fitting the glow plug in the engine. The body is usually coated with a chemical-treatment to resist salty mist avoiding rust. A cheaper tratment can be money saving but can expose the body to oxydation. Point 3: THE RESISTOR FILAMENTS Filaments are crucial. The resistor is the hearth of the glow plug, a good filament is essential to make a good glow plug. It's not of great importance having a double filament or a single filament glow plug, a good glow plug can be made with both technologies, they both perform better in some situations and worse in other one, it's very important to have a good manufacturer using the right machines and alloys. Professional equipments to check glow plugs have optical pyrometers ( istruments able of capturing a objects temperature by infrared sensor) and trace a diagram temperature - current, time. This is what we call characterisation, and it's the glow plug's fingerprint. Professional equipments are quite expensive, and a laboratory is necessary for a producer, but not essential for glow plugs customers. There are a couple of tests anyone can do to check the quality of a glow plug, using a clock, a 12V or 24V battery and two cables with clips. TIMING: using the cables connect positive wire to the upper terminal, and negative wire to the body, connect wires to the battery, immediatly the glow plug start to heat on (be carefull, do not hold the glow plug with your hands). Start the clock in the exact time you connect the last cable to the battery and stop the clock when the portion between glow plug'tip and 8mm away is red-hot. The time must match the glow plug specific heating time declared on the catalogue. Usually it must be HEATING QUALITY: Watch the glow plug while heating up. You must see the heat starting from the tip, then spreading slowly in body direction untill the glow plug's temperature get to the higher point. That is a good heating quality. If a new glow plug starts heating from the body or from the middle of the tube you're probably looking at a bad quality glow plug. The injector's stream points in an area between the tip and 8 mm from the glow plug's tip. AUTO REGULATION: A glow plug for vehicles from 1990 on is usually heated for longer time, up to 180 seconds at 13V-14V, so it is very important the resistor is made with one or two auto regulating filaments (it can be monofilament or double filament glow plug). To check it by yourself just heat the glow plug and keep it heated with a battery for a longer time, up to 5 minutes. Sadly you can't have the waranty it doesn't burn out at 13V-14V using just a battery, you should use a power supplier (alternate current is fine if you haven't access to a stabilized one). Point 4: GLOW PLUG LIFE SPAN Lifespan is the most important feature and strictly connected to heating time. Usually the hard point is having a fast glow plug with long lifespan, on the contrary is very easy to have a long life but very slow glow plug. When the heating time is under 8 seconds, likeley between 5 and 7 seconds, lifespan is the mirror of the glow plug's manufacturing quality. If the manufacturing process has some lacks it will probably produce a short life glow plug. Sadly the only way to test glow plug's lifespan is with professional equipment, it must be started at 11-12V then kept for minutes at 13-14V, cooled down to ambient temperature or less and then the cycle must restart again. This must go on for thousands of cycles. If you have timer and some electric equipment maybe you can build a rudimental tester by yourself, you will be able to perform some comparative tests. Point 7: DIMENSIONS Recent glow plugs for direct injection engines usually fit in very small holes, the difference between the OEM glow plug and the suitable glow plug should be very slight, for diameters particularly. For example, there is a reference where a tube diameter of 5,2 mm instead the original OEM tube diameter of 5 mm cause the suitable glow plug to knock in the engine hole. Having the right dimensions means big investments in tools, and a higher manufacturing cost. Point 6: PATENTS Oh yes, there are patents for glow plugs, especially for resistor materials. Breaching a patent is an easy way to do a decent product without investment, but can seriously put the manufacturer and the buyer in trouble. If you don't want to get in trouble check the glow plugs patents on the web or ask your supplier a declaration they're not breaking any patent or they're using their own patent, this can be of help in case of trouble. There are companies, big or small, investing in research and development of their own patents and alloys, buy from them. What exposed are just some basic points to check glow plug's quality. Glow plug design and manufacturing process are far more complicated and full of little tips which really can make the big difference, even between good quality products. Our Items are NOT reconditioned. They are NOT refurbished. They DO have a 12 month warranty. The Glow Plug ignites the fuel in a diesel engine similar to the spark plug in a petrol engine. If this becomes faulty, Then it can cause several faults, Inc but not limited to: Non Start Poor starting, Often running very 'lumpy' until engine warms. Poor/ Non starting, Which can sound like it is 'firing' only once every turn of the engine. I. E. When you are cranking the engine over with the ignition key, It kind of spins over then makes a 'bang' then spins over, Then 'bang' then spins over, Bang etc.