Um, I recomment you check the 'stretch' before the head comes off...

I wouldn't recommend a valve job unless things 'just don't look right' to you.

Wise guy !

Thanks...

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

Attached Thumbnails

       

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!

They broke it, they need to fix it.

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I'm not a doctor, but I'll have a look.

'85 300SD 245k
'87 300SDL 251k
'90 300SEL 326k

Six others from BMW, GM, and Ford.

Liberty will not descend to a people; a people must raise themselves to liberty.[/IMG]

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
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

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.

I just replaced all 6 glow plugs in my 95 and found that 5 of the six came out with nary a hint of a problem. The sixth however was a bear. Having heard about breakage problems, I was not at all happy when upon the first turn of the wrench, the recalcitrant plug emitted sharp pings of resistance. Subsequent turns revealed a persistent desire to remain in place.

I briefly considered abandoning removal of this plug but the situation had quickly escalated to a me vs plug mentality.......out came the WD40. The project had begun as an IP valve o-ring replacement so between o-rings I doused the plug with WD40 and gave a couple of turns, then more lubricant. With time I was able to back the plug off of all threads however, it was still very snug in the well and could not be pulled out.

At this point I didn't know how I was going to get it out and considered starting her up in hope of using the engine compression to my advantange (did you know that the engine will idle quite happily without the intake manifold in place? Cool to watch intake valves operate...). But with IP project still ongoing, I decided to apply more patience, more lubricant, more turning, repeat.....and finally the bugger came out.

Hopefully I will get another 200k out of these plugs and not have to deal with them again.....

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95 E300D 206K
73 BMW 2002tii Touring
2004 Porsche Cayenne S
1995 Universal Marine Diesel (3cyl, 17hp)
2001 BMW R1100SA

You know, it costs $10 and a couple hours work to make sure it doesn't. Why not? I mean, what does it really cost? A gasket and that is about that. Besides, you can clean your intake out and not have the oil crud in the intake. Gotta be worth something.

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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
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

I agree that the glow plugs should be removed and checked every year or two to prevent problems, reinstall with anti-seize and clean the intake while its off, check the injector lines, fuel lines and return lines...these are all good things.

Also I suggest tackle the job when the engine is HOT, as soon as you shut it down remove the intake manfold and get right on them...parts always come apart easier when hot and when mine were done on a hot engine all 6 came out without a hitch. AFAIK they were the originals in there for 7 1/2 years.

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Marty D.

2013 C300 4Matic
1984 BMW 733i
2013 Lincoln MKz

I did mine a year and a half after I had them done previously and they had no issues. This was with 55K added to the clock. There was about 65K when I got it and it siezed. I made the mistake of trying to drill it out instead of a head job. In any case, I had them disassemble the thing and I saw there was not that much carbon in the prechambers that could have siezed the plug. Once we drilled out the threads, the plug came out easy. Unfortunately for me, it was drilled at a wrong angle and I needed a machine shop to fix it.

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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
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

I have a 1996 e300d. Similar story. A few years ago I replaced all 6 plugs. No problem. I had another one go bad this past spring (I guess because the GP light and CE light came on). Four of the six came out fine. One creaked and squeaked on it's way out. You could tell there was some sort of major friction. The 6th seemed to turn fine but I noticed it wasn't backing out of the head! It just kept turning and turning and that is when it dawned on me that the damn thing was broken. The compression seal is still good but that plug is "in there" . Debating the next move. Once I square it away, I will be removing them on a periodic basis. I don't have a reamer but I will get one. I have 230k on the car. I'm also thinking of just leaving it in there for awhile as an experiment as to how it will start this winter here in the NE. I do hate the check engine light and the dash display reminding me of the problem though.