PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum - View Single Post - Penetrating oil on GPs

JHZR2 · #8 01-15-2004, 10:22 AM

OK, good point...

Yeah, replacing them for the heck of it isnt all that great of an idea, but I figured that even though no starting ease would be gained from the replacement, at least Id know for sure that I had some plugs in there that were clean (not carbon encrusted so that their heating isnt all that great) and had anti-sieze on the threads.

Its like 50/50, some have no problem ever, others have them break. My thinking is that replacement with high quality bosch plugs will at least leave me with a baseline of how old they are, and I will have the piece of mind that they are OK and not siezed. Right now I have no record of any ever being repalced, the car starts fine to about 10F on one or two glows after sitting overnight, with no problem but an occasional nailing for 5-10 seconds at very cold startup, which goes away with a slight depression of the pedal and never returns.

Sounds like all is well, right? Id say so. But what if one of those glow plugs is on its way out, and the fatigue of glowing and being there while driving another 3 or 4000 miles, or even 30 or 40000 for that matter will be enough to cause it to break or be more stubborn.

I know PEH has some original plugs after 300K in his 78 and 79 cars, so its not a bad idea to leave them alone. And, your letting me know that you have not had any troubles makes me feel more secure.

I suppose my thinking is that replacing $40 worth of glowplugs while I can might save me $400 worth of work later when they are older and more likely to break.

But Im not as worried now...

JMH