This was my argument the other day at work but been told by quite a few different people and places its a wise thing to have done these days?

I think tbh mine has only ever used the glow plugs once! There does seem some confusion over when they are exactly used for some as some think they are like spark plugs which is of course totally wrong.

I think the 2.0D only uses them from something like -10. haha. The position on the 2.0D as well is highly prohibitive to changing them, although i can see the point in doing the change for piece of mind get someone else to do it.

Hi could you send me the PDF haynes manual of how to change glow plugs on Volvo 2.0D Euro4? I can no longer see it on your thread???
Thanks
Maxamplitude

If you need to change only spark plug nr 3 couting from the battery it works easily with a cardanic cross mounted on a medium ratchet(don't know if that's the name).
http://cdn.allshops.ro/files/clients...238_normal.jpg

For the rest you have to remove the EGR and the EGR cooler + pipe to gain access to the plugs, not quite a walk in the park, even with the right tools the space is very narrow bahind the egr.
They are ~15cm behind the injectors, pointing to the window wipers
They should not be tightened more than 5nm torque

...

:star-wars-smiley-01

I struggled to find the glow plugs on a 2008 V50. They are on the back of the engine, immediately behind the inlet manifold. Peer over and you will see a couple of metal clips that hold the wires to the manifold. If you have a multimeter, it is just possible to find the top of a couple of glow plugs and test for DC resistance. This should be in the order of 1.5 ohms. How easily they can be removed and quite how you get at the others, I'm not sure. Fortunately, mine checked out OK. It seems most starting problems are usually caused by a distorted throttle body as covered in detail on this forum.

I did mine and they are extremely awkward. I had to remove part of the EGR pipe and even then it was tight t get your hands and tools in there.

As said before they are at the back of the engine and you have to do it by feel. There is a small nut (perhaps 8mm or even smaller) on the top of each glow plug that secures the wire that powers them. Remove those first without loosing a nut and your doing OK!

Then You have to use the plug remover socket (smaller of the 2 as I remember) with the ?bendy? (sorry I don't know the correct terms) attachment and gently loosen them off. As said before they can be seized and you could end up snapping one off if your not careful which is a world of hurt money wise to get fixed. I was paranoid about this so took my time. If it felt too tight I would have just left it. It took me about an hour just because of the access issues.

and of course I lost a lot of skin on my knuckles.

Rear view of the engine with all EGR components still attached

http://i42.tinypic.com/1rx4lg.jpg

Rear view without the EGR and EGR cooling pipe .. revealing the glow plugs:

http://i39.tinypic.com/2en0pya.jpg

http://i40.tinypic.com/sqjndh.jpg

Very helpful pictures. Thanks for posting them!