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The trouble with the glow plugs on the V6 diesel engines fitted to Discovery 3 and 4 and Range Rover Sport 1 is that they last such a long time that when it’s finally necessary to change them, they can be well and truly seized in. They are also difficult to reach, and they’re easy to break, and when that happens it’s a specialist’s job to extract them after a fair amount of dismantling.
Why glow plugs?
At this time of year, a good diesel engine will fire up without the need for the glow plugs to operate. When the engine is turned over on the starter, the pistons compress the air in the cylinders making it hot enough to ignite the incoming diesel fuel from the injectors, and away you go. In winter though, especially in sub-zero conditions, it’s essential that the glow plugs (also known as heater plugs) operate to initially heat the air inside the engine cylinders, otherwise, the compression alone will not generate sufficient heat to ignite the fuel, and the engine won’t start.
Of course, the glow plugs don’t all fail at once. If two or three aren’t working, the engine might still start up on the other three cylinders, but probably running less smoothly for a few seconds until the cylinders with the defective plugs warm up and begin firing properly. These V6 diesels are naturally quiet engines, well soundproofed and well insulated from the
