Far North Scooby

I've been told that there is now a tool to remove snapped plugs without removing the engine but even if that's true I suppose it depends on what exactly is left behind. You'd need to check that with a qualified mechanic. I change the front two plugs annually before they have chance to corrode and the rear two get taken out and checked and are replaced bi-annually. I just get my local garage to do this as the Subaru dealer is five hours and two islands away. I'm sure that there is no need for you in Nottinghamshire to replace plugs like this as you don't have the huge amount of salt corrosion we have here in Shetland but it might be an idea to get them checked at a major service. Of course there is a risk of snapping a working plug when you take it out but the risk of a plug seizing and then snapping can only increase the longer you leave it. My local garage took 3 days to tease out a seriously corroded plug once and that is why I now get them replaced or checked annually.

No, I change the front pair of glow plugs annually and the rear pair bi-annually. Probably no need where you are but there is a massive amount of salt in the air here and I've had several close calls with corroded plugs.

Hi I've had several plugs fail but fortunately all were able to be removed intact although one took a very long time and much penetrating oil to tease it out. I now replace the front pair every year due to very heavy salt corrosion and the rear pair every two years. This may seem excessive but I got fed up with that damn warning light coming on. When a plug goes you also lose traction control which can be extremely dodgy on ice even with 4-wheel drive.

It took 3 days of penetrating oil and teasing out 3 duff glowplugs but so far I haven't had one snap. I now get the front two changed annually with the rear ones removed, cleaned then re-fitted. Currently I expect the rear two to be changed bi-annually. All plugs are now lubricated with copper grease which seems to work well when it comes to removing them again. Plugs are available online for around £30 each when last checked.

Hi. Yes, I'm in the UK and the car is a 2010 model.

Thanks very much for the info. Happy New Year to you!

Thanks for that. It certainly wasn't the intention.

I would like to apologise to my Subaru dealer on this topic and make it absolutely clear that I do not blame them in any way for this problem - their quality of service has always been great. My complaint is against Subaru themselves for not using more reliable glow plugs in what is otherwise a pretty excellent and versatile car.

True, although we do get a lot of corrosion here in Shetland due to the amount of salt about. The first thing to go is always the paint on the wiper arms and it's downhill all the way after that.

Christmas Eve and I've now just had my fourth glow plug fail - or may be one of the earlier replacements has failed - with a dire warning each time about the risk of it snapping while removal is attempted with the resulting bill in the region of £4000 for engine removal. The car has done under 32000 miles and the plugs have been failing since 15000 miles. Car is 2010 Forester bought from and serviced by main dealer. None have snapped so far but the constant threat is ridiculous. Theoretically it is possible to rack up an annual bill of around £8000 with replacing those plugs. Anyone else had so many of them fail?

I haven't actually had one snap yet but three have failed so far and the car has still only done 30,000 miles. I agree that Trading Standards may be worth trying should the worst happen. Other manufacturers seem to have similar problems but the Subaru boxer engine presumably makes them more awkward to deal with. If not then comments on a postcard please.

My repair went OK and ended up at about £116 in the end, which wasn't too bad. Trouble now is that I'm constantly expecting another one to go - either the sole remaining original plug or one of the replacements - and then I have the threat of snapping plug and that £4000 bill again. If you've only been quoted $1000 dollars (about £560) to replace snapped ones then you're very lucky - or someone has made a mistake. The glow plugs aren't even necessary for starting here at 60 degrees north so I'm sure you could manage without them in southern Australia if it wasn't for the loss of safety features. As I said in an earlier post the problem cannot just be ignored in Britain as the car will fail its MOT test and have to be taken off the road until repaired. The snapping glow plug problem is apparently quite common with other cars as well but perhaps is complicated by the nature of and accessibility of the Subaru boxer engine. Any thoughts on that anyone?

Probably need the glow plugs in winter here (140 miles off the top of Scotland) but the car cannot pass it's MOT test in the UK with a dashboard warning light on so replacing the glow plug is obligatory. It's the £4000 or so cost of replacing one that the Subaru Main Dealer snaps when attempting to remove it that's the real worry - even more so when they have already failed on three occasions at only 29500 miles/43000 km. Seems to me that these parts should be considered not fit for purpose under UK trading standards laws.

Thanks for the friendly welcome! The dealer wouldn't change them all under warranty because of the risk of breaking ones that were working perfectly OK at the time. The whole fault is weird because the traction control warning comes on and stays on at the same time as the engine management warning light (the traction control failure then takes out the cruise control). I fail to see what the traction control has to do with a dodgy glow plug so those are presumably just error codes triggered erroneously by the initial fault. Another thing I don't get with the glow plugs is that if they are prone to snapping, and have been like that for years, then why haven't they come up with a better design and recalled the lot - especially as it seems to disable the traction control and so becomes a safety matter. Cheers! FNS.