Glow Plugs

[SCHERFF]

My 2003 Jetta says #3 glow plug is bad. I was going to change them all so I called dealership and they want $42.00 apiece for them. The local part store wants $14.00 for NGK or Champion. What is the difference? Are the ones from the dealer better?

[chittychittybangbang]

no noticeable functional difference. You can buy the GP online even cheaper. Also, check the wire harness for breaks/plug corrosion.

[SCHERFF]

Thanks. Am I posting things correctly? I am new to the sight and noticed that the post and reply column are empty on my post?

[chittychittybangbang]

I moved to mk4 section out of intros since there were some technical questions.

[YMZ]

Make sure that the local shop gets the correct ones for your engine... there are quite a few types of NGK plugs for VW... I'd avoid the Champion... see boraparts or idparts or metalmanparts for good prices on Bosch or Beru (the type that originally came on your car)...

BTW: the numbering system for the glow plugs on your car is in all probability reversed to that of the cylinder numbering... As well, as CCBB indicated, often the problem is corrosion in the harness ("bridge") rather than a dead glow plug... use a digital ohm-meter (multi-meter) to check the resistance of each to ground... should be anywhere between 0.5 and 1.5 ohms - depending on your leads and where you ground, but they should all be close... usually when they fail, they read either zero or infinity... (or something rather high, like 200 ohms...)

Yuri