Penny trick for stuck glow plugs on a 7.3 saved my Saturday

Honestly, I fought a set of stuck glow plugs on a 2002 F-250 for three hours last month. Heat, PB Blaster, the whole drill, nothing budged. Then my old timer buddy walks over, grabs a copper penny, and taps it into the socket before I put the ratchet on. Turns out the extra grip from the soft copper grabs the plug's hex just enough to break the corrosion. We got all 8 out in about 40 minutes after that, zero broken tips. Ngl, I felt dumb for not knowing this sooner, but it saved me a tow to the shop in Eugene. Has anyone else used a coin or a similar shim trick for seized injector bolts or sensors?

2 comments

2 Comments

gavina7324d ago

Did the penny actually hold up, or was it just enough to make the socket bite? I've seen that trick strip more plug heads than it saves on rusted out 7.3s, especially if the corrosion is real bad.

clark.robin23d ago

Did the penny actually hold up?" Yeah, it held up about as well as my patience did after hour two of hammering on a ratchet. The real trick is knowing when to quit fighting and just let a coin that's younger than the truck do the work. I used a 1982 penny too, just to make sure it was old enough to have some grit, and that thing came out looking like a wadded up gum wrapper. Honestly, if your corrosion is bad enough that a penny strips the head, then that plug was never coming out with a socket anyway, you'd be drilling or using a torch next. I get your warning though, @gavina73, but I'd rather sacrifice a penny than my knuckles on a tow truck hook. Plus, the looks on the other guys' faces when the copper trick works beats any busted bolt story.