Hi Guys,
I'm working on a '98 E300 sedan, replacing the glow plugs do to the warning coming on in the dash.

Someone's been in there before, and replaced the first 3, but it appears they didn't replace the last 3.

The first 3 came out easy, in fact, they were barely tight. Plug #4 wouldn't budge, creaking threads in the head.....you know the story, I'm sure. #5 & #6 were the same. Tried PB Blaster around the plugs, heating the head right around the plugs with a MAP gas torch, rocking the plugs a little tighter, then looser, more heat, more PB Blaster, etc. #4 broke at the top of the theads and the "nut" just spins. I got #6 out finally, but it took about an hour. #5 had 3/4th of it's threads out when it finally broke off at the top of the threads and started spinning.

Man, talk about put a knot in my stomach. Personally, I don't see how #4 and #5 can be salvaged. I think they're way too tight for any sort of easy-out type set up, and even if the centers could be drilled (in car) I don't see that freeing them up. They're hanging up due to carbon on the smooth shank areas....even after #6 was completely unthreaded, it would not come out and I had to come with with a way to lever against it and pull at the same time.

So....this is pretty FUBAR and I'd sure appreciate any BTDT input. At this point, I think the smart thing to do is to have the car towed to an experienced Mercedes shop and have them remove the head. (Estimate from one local MBZ Indy is 21hrs @ $100/hr, plus machine shop time, so I'm guessing 3 large when all is said and done.)

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