Hi

Have a little proble, with our 1.3 Fiat Idea, which up to now has been a good little car, in that it seems whilst the garage were trying to change a faulty glowplug the thing has snapped off and the rest of it is seized up and can't be removed.

The garage state that it may need the head removing and I was wondering if anyone had an idea of the costs of potentially doing that sort of work and if it might even need a new thread as well.

Any advice gratefully received.

This is a common problem with glowplugs on all engines. I hope the garage tried a number of 'tricks' before using the biggest spanner possible knowing you would have to pay to fix it anyway. (warm engine, letting antisieze fluid soak it overnight are 2 popular ones)

I do all my own work so cant be sure on prices but it will be atleast a couple of hundred pounds for the time and new gaskets. To do the job properly they should take it to a machine shop to be drilled accurately which reduces the chance of the thread being replaced. The replacement thread would be a helicoil which is a proven and easy fix.

If the engine is coming apart it might be worth them checking the egr valve is clear of soot and also cleaning out the inlet manifold/heat where the recirculated soot acculmulates. This should make the car a bit more resposive and drive like new again. It also means there should be far fewer reasons for an unscheduled trip back to the garage.
Depends if you are planning on keeping the car and can afford to have preventative maintenance done at this time of year.