Some pics of the engine....head is at the machine shop.

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Im not sure this applies to your car or not so please excuse me if im wong. But in your pics it looks like you let the timing chain drop. Can you get it back on the crank and IP gears without taking the motor out of the car??

Not sure if that's a problem; I hope not. I'm not doing the work myself...stopped by the shop doing the repairs today to take these pictures. Waiting on the head to come back from the machine shop.

If its anything like the 5 cyl and the 4 cyl I think you have some trouble brewing if the chain came off from the crank or IP. You may want to pull the chain back up and try to make sure its still on the other sprockets. Stuff a block of wood under it to hold it up. Sadly, I dont think you'll know if its jumped teeth or not till you go to reinstall the head and do the cam timing. My understanding is that the engine has to come out of it came off the crank but hopefuly someone more knowledgeable than myself with your 6cyl can advise.

The shop was able to get the engine back together. I picked the car up Tuesday evening. Ran great and the glow plugs operated like they should.

After work on Thursday I walk out to the garage to get in my car and go home and notice that the low coolant light is on. I pop the hood and notice that it is really low. Then I notice the big pool of coolant under the car!

I look under the car to see the coolant dripping out near the alternator, above that the front the of the water pump was dry. That's odd. Had the car towed back to the shop. Mechanic happened to be there working late. Took one look at it...probably the water pump. So back into the shop it goes! I don't think the failure of the water pump has anything to do with pulling the head...just a coincidence...any opinions on that?

Once I'm done with this car there will be nothing left to fix or replace!

My E300TD currently has no.2 glow plug dead, but since the previous owner saw fit to weld it to the head with a washer I don't think its going anywhere....

One day I may fix it, but tbh I'm not that bothered about it. Its only a slight issue when the engine is cold. When I bought it, 4 of the plugs were dead and it still fired up even when the ambient temperature was less than 0'C!

Wow, welded a nut to the head, that's an interesting fix. You are right, probably not going anywhere soon.

They were able to free 5 of the 6 glow plugs. Car started OK but with a little smoke. The glow plug idiot light wouldn't come on with the key in the ignition and then once started it would come on and flash. So I decided to have them pull the head and fix the last plug. Guess I will have to pull the intake and ream the glow plug holes periodically. (yearly? every other year?)

I pulled the head because I figured I wouldn't be able to get much for the car with glow plug issues. Plus that blinking glow plug light would remind me about the problem everyday!

I guess the good news is that the work is done and I can also say the head gasket is new. New water pump should be going in today or Monday. While I'm in the area might as well do the the lower coolant hose and thermostat. I'm married to this car now.

1995 e300d 169,200.

What do you all think about soaking the gp threads with white vinegar constantly for five days (or so) before attempting to remove them? The acetic acid in the vinegar would attack the corrosion between the two dissimilar metals of the head and the gp. Something really runny like vinegar might just seep in where a pb blaster or liquid wrench might not. I couldn't find much info about this topic. Any thoughts? (Hatterasguy, I'd actually consider flying you down to DC to help if/when I need a gp change)

I'm hypothesizing here guys. (note first line of my reply)

My mechanic said that the threads were not the issue...but rather the clump of carbon on the other side. They soaked everything for days and wiggled the plug back and forth for a long time. Finally the last one just gave up.

This is one of those "design flaws" in Mercedes over engineering.

This is very interesting. So are you're saying that the carbon buildup on the gp tip is so strong that it holds on and the gp body actually rips? Help me out a little more please. Anyone have a pic of a gp that has been ectomied? Thanks a lot.

I think that is what he was trying to explain to me. The mechanic said that the thread on the GP were not frozen in the head, rather the carbon buildup in the prechamber was holding the GP in place. Do you have the E Class owner's bible? There is an illustration of a prechamber on page 257. Not sure if that is exactly what the OM606 looks like but I think that is the general idea. MB sells special tool to "ream" the prechambers to clear the carbon. My GPs were original so figure there was 11 years of carbon buildup in there...

They broke it, they need to fix it.

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I didn't have that much carbon there. In fact they were quite clean. It was the threads that froze up. Not any more. I take them out every year to year and a half I declared. I took them out recently and they were fine.

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01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
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WHY ?

You never had something break even though you took reasonable precautions ?

Your statement makes it look like they WANTED the thing to break off....

Your out of order !

If you where not a 'fly on the wall' while they where doing the job...keep those kind of comments to yourself.

It makes me so flamming mad when someone becomes an expert on a job they had to let someone else do, because they couldn't do it themselves.


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That would be nice, but not realistic. Before they started the job they told me (and I knew) that the plugs get stuck in these engines and that there was risk involved. They tried to get them all out without breaking them but ultimately one broke. It happens on these engines.