How easy is it to fit glow plugs on a 306 td?

Answer 1

The glow plugs on my 1994 Peugeot 306 XRDT were not too hard to replace for three of them. They are about 1-2cm in diameter, all located on the front of the engine, leaning forwards with a wire from the alternator connected to the third plug from the left, and another wire connecting this and the other three glow plugs. They re about the same size as a regular spark plug. The leftmost plug (as you look at the car from the front) is directly behind the fuel pump, I couldn't get to this and I don't think you can without taking the fuel assembly apart (best to leave this to a mechanic!).

For the other three, I started by removing the intercooler (a flat box sitting right on top of the engine with black plastic sides and a fine mesh steel grille), it has five bolts of different lengths to undo and a roughly 5cm/2in diameter flexible pipe. There are three upward-facing bolts at the back of the intercooler box, and two on the front, one facing upward and the other facing forward. The flexible pipe has a pipe clamp you undo with a screwdriver and then it slides off.

You should have a better view of the engine block now and should be able to see the four glowplugs by looking around or through a few wires and the fuel pump on the left as you look at the engine bay from the front. Remove the nuts anticlockwise on what plugs you can get to with a spanner or socket of the correct size, take care not to drop it. You should then be able to slip off the wire connecting them to each other on each one. Using a slightly larger diameter spanner (12-13mm from memory, but that may differ), undo each plug by unscrewing anticlockwise and replace with a new one, screwing it in clockwise until a turn or two past fingertight. Ensure that the new glowplugs do not have small 8mm nuts on their threaded section already, if they do take the nut off before you install the plug onto the engine and keep it to one side until you need it. Replace the wire that just connects the four glowplugs together AND the main current wire onto that third plug from the left (if this isn't done the car won't work at all!).

From here simply reverse the process of taking the intercooler off to put it back on again, ensuring the long bolts go in the long holes, shorter ones on short holes etc. Reconnect any wires or pipes you may have disconnected and pushed to one side in the course of the job. Finally check for dropped parts or tools left behind in the engine bay and then start the car as normal.