Where in my 1990 ford e 350 are the glow plugs?

Answer 1

Glow plugs are found on a Diesel engine. I know of no 1990 Ford E350 with a diesel.

(jowinston)I have a 1990 Ford E-350 Van with a Diesel engine; it's the V8 7.3 Liter found on any auto parts website.

1. Unbuckle (sides), unscrew (floor), and remove the engine housing cover from inside the truck. Get it way out of the way because you need as much empty space around the engine as you can get. The engine is now partly exposed.

2. Remove the round air filter and filter housing because you'll need that space too.

3. First off, recognize that the glow plug works pretty much the same as a light bulb. It is a four inch long x 1/4" diameter solid piece of round metal that gets hot when heat (electrical charge) is applied. Electric arrives via wires converging in a fastener or "hat" which is attached to the topside tip of the glow plug. The hat is either pressed down or screwed down on top of the plug.

3. Along each side of the engine on top you'll see four wires (one for each cylinder), each of which appear to go down into the invisible depths of the engine itself. Actually, there is a bottom down there, but by now it's so covered with schmutz that you can't see it. Also, you'll see that a couple are easy to reach, a few more can be reached, and the rest will be nearly impossible to reach, but they still must be reached.

4. VERY CAREFULLY-find the end of each of those wires down there; some will be extremely hard to reach. Pull or twist on the end GENTLY-if you pull too hard you will separate the wires from the fastener, and then you have to invent a new fastener out of old pieces on your workbench because they cannot be found in any retail auto parts store that's open on Saturday afternoon when you're attempting this. Try this out on the easiest ones first so you understand how much torque you'll really need.

5. Once the fastener is removed, the topside of the glow plug is exposed. The glow plug is screwed in place, and there is a good chance that the only way to unscrew it is with a deep socket wrench with an extension. You'll have to force it a little to start, but try not to break it as you remove it. Slim chance you may need that plug again.

6. Test your electric fasteners with a standard 12 Volt Light bulb or use a glow plug test method such as that found in Chilton's. You need to know how many of your plugs are bad before you buy any.

7. Once you have a sample glow plug and you know how many you need, take the sample to the auto parts store and buy replacements THAT MATCH. First you'll deal with the fact that the parts pullers have no idea what you're showing them after you tell them. It helps to have a part number, but sometimes that's not enough. Motocraft ZD-9s worked for me, and maybe you can find them for less than I did ($9.99 at Auto Zone but I needed a bunch right away). Then you'll deal with the fact that no one knows where those glow plugs are in the parts dept (because none have been sold in 15 years). Once you get past all that and two store managers become involved, they'll give you what's available and you'll be at least two plugs short. Drive to the next store and repeat Step 7.

While you're at it, you may want to ask if the electrical fastener replacements are available. If you can find them, buy some; they break easily on the insertion of the new glow plug.

8. Clean out the old glow plug hole; get rid of some of that schmutz because you don't want it flopping down inside the glow plug container. That's the engine-you don't want schmutz in your engine!

9. Carefully place the glow plug in the hole. Use a socket wrench or other useful tool to tighten to acceptable tolerance. Don't overtighten or you'll break it.

10. Repeat Step 9 for the other plugs. You'll find that the first two are easy, the next two are not easy, and the rest of them will be darn near impossible to reach. Typically you won't have enough room on angle to insert a socket wrench; pliers are too big to fit, and you have the wrong size box wrench for the job. Keep at it; you'll eventually finish as long as you don't expect to finish too quickly. (jowinston)