My MB techs are going to work on my 606 for the head gasket. I'm hearing with the plugs you have to heat the engine well before you start. They want to remove them before they remove the head. Are any of you doing that?

Also would like to know if anyone knows who the OEM supplier is for head bolts. I found a good deal for Reinz bolts and would like to know that they are acceptable. My guys say to go to Mercedes but why pay the price if you don't have to. Also they feel you can reuse them as long as they "measure" up.

Hello, I will be attempting this job next week. I have a recently purchased 99 e300td. I don't have a record of when or if ever the gp were replaced. I just got the check engine light with a p0380 code. Car has 116k miles. Wish me luck

Before I'd jump into a glow plug replacement, I'd suggest you check the resistance on each plug with an ohm meter. Good plugs will read about 0.7 ohms. There have been cases of that code coming up and the problem was the glow plug relay and not the plugs.

If you do the glow plugs remember - hot engine, hot engine, hot engine.

I've changed glow plugs on my '98 e300 twice. You probably already have this, but in case you don't, these are the most helpful instructions I found:

PeachPartsWiki: LightMan's Step by Step Glowplug change

Len Sokoloff recommends a medium length Snap On 12mm socket; its number is Snap-on 12 fsm12. I bought one for the second time I changed them. It works better than other sockets I've used and costs $22 or $23 on line.

I did test them and #1 gp is bad. Thanks for the advice and reminder of the hot engine. :)

Thanks for the feedback. That is a great write up.

+1 it's actually Snap-On FSMS12 12mm 6 point 3/8" drive SEMI DEEP Socket. It does make a difference - thanks for tip. I just did my GP for the 2nd time. Nickel Antisieze made a huge difference. No problems. I did soak them for 48 hrs in Kroil. Last time I did this: 2007 with 155k - 12+ yrs. and 125k miles later.

Bill