2012 Diesel glow plugs
 

Good morning All,

So I got a code that I need to change glow plug # 1, so I'll go ahead and change all. I've been doing research and have narrowed it down to Beru plugs being better than Bosch. I've tried locating the Beru brand, but it's been almost impossible to find a seller in the US. Anyone have a link or a proper part number for me?

From research, I found that changing the gaskets is really unnecessary when performing this work. What are your thoughts?

Also - found a shop willing to do the work for $180. I typically do work on cars myself, but think I'll skip this one as it seems a bit time consuming.

Thank you in advance for your help.

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I can't help with the Bosch or Beru debate but you should be able to get OE glow plugs for less than $40 each if purchasing them yourself. How much are the Bosch or Beru being listed at? How much time can you save just by going to BMW? Or rather, how much time will you spend tracking down the Beru parts to save how much money? Just mentioning it as another consideration.

My opinion is that the gaskets are cheap as hell and should be replaced. The ElringKlinger gaskets are perfectly fine and probably the OEM anyway. OE aren't crazy expensive either. Why wouldn't you replace them?

Have you considered replacing the control module at the same time? If procuring the parts yourself, OE should be available for less than $100.

$180 for what I assume is labor alone for the replacement is not terrible. If it's parts and labor and includes quality parts, that's exceptional. My dealer quoted $414 parts and labor for glow plug and control module replacement.

Without the actual error code it is hard to say, but… I’d be very surprised if a 2012 35d had a single glow plug fail. It is far more likely that the real problem is the glow plug controller. And unless you just love to have your head under the hood, i’d suggest you pony up and replace all the glow plugs, the intake manifold gaskets and the glow plug controller at the same time. That’s what I did to our 2009 35d.


FWIW the OE glow plugs in my 2009 35d were Bosch France 955


Funf Dreisig

I agree, just replace all 6 and the controller. I'm not going to go in on the gasket replacement though. I had my intake off of my old 2009 probably 6 times over it's life and never replaced them with no issues. I would do the swirl flap delete from tunemyeuro.com just because it's one less thing to worry about and get the swirl flap actuator hooked back up is a PITA. I fully intend on doing this whenever it is that I have to take my intake off on the 2013.

Most glow plug issues are just the module. Statistical, your glow plugs are probably fine. Just change the module and your error with #1 will probably go away. There are lots of posts on the M57 forum where people changed a single glow plug and the issue was not resolved until the module was changed. I replaced my module without removing the intake manifold and it was not difficult. The hardest part is unplugging the wiring.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXGnK8UVTF0

I'll bet you a Toonie it's the module

And if its the module, I'd check your thermostat (coolant temp) using the hidden menu

Thank you all for your help with this. I will be using that helpful video and tackling the module job. Will update once installed.

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There are two different DTCs for the glow plug. One leads me to believe that they indicate trouble with the control circuit, i.e., the module. The others seem to point to the glow plug specifically. I saw the two different types of glow plug codes, read some anecdotes on the internet and didn't want to get in there twice so I did the whole kit and caboodle and replaced everything. I had to do it again because the new OE glow plug failed at cylinder 1.