what caused glow plugs to do that?

I always have a few glow plugs burned out of my 6.9 Ford every year,but it's sporadic,no pattern to it. Last year I changed the whole set and it had never started better. Well,this year it was starting hard again in cold weather.I'd been having to plug it in for the past few weeks. I checked them today and all four of them on the left side were burned out. All 4 on the right side were good. What the heck would cause one whole side to burn out?

How is the controller(s) wired and set up?

Did you get the correct plugs, and if so, what brand? Some are useless. The best plug is the German plug made by Beru. If you buy from Ford as Motorcraft, it will be the Beru in a Motorcraft ZD1A box for pre 1987 6.9s. If an 87 6.9 it takes a Motorcraft ZD9.

If you bought Champion, Delco, Autolite, or Wellman WAP, you might as well throw your money away. They tend to burn out fast under normal use.

1983 to 1986 6.9s take totally different plugs then then 1987 6.9s.

1983 to 1986 6.9s take:

Delco 8G, Beru 0 100 271 102 or 835MJ or GV835, Bosch 80024, Autolite 1107,
Wellman GO80 or dual coil GO88, Champion CH80, Ford and Motorcraft ZD1A or
E5TZ12A342B, General Motors 5613680, IH/Navistar - 1804211C2, Lucas/Delphi
DS090A, Delphi HDS305.

1987 6.9 takes:

Beru ZD9, Delphi HDS307, Champion CH84, Lucas/Delphi DS092A, WAP 84

Only use motorcraft glowplugs in any ford diesel. Autolite are terrible at burning out and swelling, causing you to have to pull the head off to bang the glow plug out, or the tip of the glow plug breaking off and getting sucked into the cylinder.

I went to the Ford dealer last year to get a set and they said they didn't even stock them for that anymore. Said if I wanted them to get them,they'd go across the road and get Autolite 1107s for me,so I might as well do it myself. So I did. That's what they were and what I replaced them with. And yes,one of them was swollen pretty bad. Had to twist it out with vise grips. Just can't figure them all going out on one side though instead of a few random failures.

Do you know where I can get a set of those better ones? Any autoparts store around here just comes up with those same Autolite 1107s. Drop me an email on it if you want to. You've got my address.

When I had a 6.9, the "wait to start" lite would come on randomly, going down the freeway at 60 MPH. Of course, it would cook the glow plugs. About the second time that happened, I talked to a diesel mechanic- he started talking about hundreds of dollars to replace the sensors, etc.- then suggested I bypass sensors and just use a manual push-button switch for glow plugs. Ran #10 wire from the two big terminals of the box that fed the glow plugs, to a 30 amp push-button switch I mounted under the dash. Push it for about a count of 6 (a little more in cold weather), worked great, and I was able to quit funding the International Glow Plug Consortium.

Your Ford dealer if full of it. Mine keeps them in stock under the Motorcraft brand. If you want, just order the Motorcaft plugs on-line from Rock Auto. $10 each. Go tof or 1986 or older:

http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/x,carcode,1123928,parttype,7152

MOTORCRAFT Part # ZD1A {#E5TZ12A342B}

For a 1987 6.9 go to:

http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/x,carcode,1124110,parttype,7152
MOTORCRAFT Part # ZD9 {#F2TZ12A342A}

I just bought some a few months ago at my local Ford dealer for $9 each. Motorcraft ZD1A or Ford #E5TZ12A342B. That's for an 1986 or older 6.9.

I suspect your Ford dealer is just a lazy, doesen't have them in stock and didn't feel like ordering them.

The Autolites and Champions are not even close to the original OEM quality, and far inferior to the latest like Motorcraft sells. Most of the new plugs now are "thermal limiting" and almost burn out proof.

Beru makes, by far, the best and only truly correct glow plug for the 6.9 and 7.3. Same for the GM 6.2s and 6.5s. That's why all the plugs that come from GM and Ford dealers now are Beru plugs put into their own boxes. Motorcraft and Delco are all reboxed Beru plugs.

Mine did too. There's a $200 sensor in the rear of the black that was bad. Changed it and solved most of the problems....except for burning all the plugs on one side.

Somebody is telling you stories or overcharging you. The Ford-IH 6.9 uses the Delphi HDC-905 glow-plug "sensor" controller. Cost new around $75-$90 if you shop around. And, it rarely goes bad, just gets dirty connections.

Nothing wrong with a manual push-button control, but I suspect more plugs get burnt out that way, not less. Especially when someone else uses the vehicle More especially if you don't use thermally-protected plugs like Autolite or Champion.

A new controller can be bought for $75-$90.

I was told there are 3 different sensors, and you couldn't tell which was bad until you took them all out. Sounds like I was being told a story.

1983 to 1986 6.9s have - 8 glow plugs, 8 thermal-fuses(one for each plug), a standard $10 relay, and the glow-plug controller (self contained one piece). That's it.

Almost the same system was used in early GM 6.2s (82-84), except GM threw in an $8 inhibitor switch that stops the plugs from working once the engine is warm.

A truck shop I used to work at got glow plugs for fords in International packaging from the International truck dealer because it was cheaper than through ford. Is this the Beru plug as well, just different packaging again?