Old timer in Missoula told me to stop using thread locker on glow plugs

I was at a shop getting some parts a few months back and this retired mechanic, probably in his 70s, saw me loading up on Loctite. He said I was asking for a headache putting that stuff on glow plugs. Said if they ever fail you'll be drilling them out. I thought he was just old school and ignored him. Three weeks later I had a truck in my bay with a seized glow plug from the previous guy's thread locker. Had to pull the head. That job cost the customer over 1200 bucks and took me two days. Now I never use it on glow plugs, just a dry torque. Anyone else had to learn that lesson the hard way?

2 comments

2 Comments

allen.ivan7h ago

Yep, learned that one the hard way too...

claire_ramirez3h ago

wait @allen.ivan you actually tried that? i can't believe you just went for it without checking first. that's wild to me because i feel like anyone with common sense would at least google it or ask around first. i mean i get it, sometimes you just gotta learn by doing but that's a pretty expensive lesson if you ask me. reminds me of the time my buddy tried to fix his own dryer and ended up having to buy a whole new one lol. what made you think it was gonna work out?