In the middle of pulling head off of the car and the 1st two injectors did not have heat shields. What difference would this make? Spoke with a guy at a
Bosch service center about checking the injectors and he asked if it smoked,
which is does at take off. Would this also cause nailing? You could see where there was soot all across the bottom of the injector where there was
only a small circle on the 3 others that had the heat shield. Going to have them tested, Bosch service center quoted $25 each, Superior Diesel in
Charleston S.C.

While waiting on the 8 mm tri star bit for my car I replaced the glow plugs & IP pump o-rings in wifes '92 today, 3 where original mercedes, 1 bosch replacement, and 1 Beru. Why would anyone do 1 at a time! No wonder the car was had to start in the cold!!! Sometimes doing it yourself is the only way to ensure it's done right!!!!!

Go to Autozone or some such store and buy the 4-pack (6mm, 8mm, 10mm, 12mm) of double hex bits for $10-12. The other sizes fit the rear suspension links.

To paraphrase P E H, why would anyone replace a working glow plug?

Sixto
87 300D

Exactly. No point in throwing money at a part that is working as it should.

Sucess! It's 22 degrees this morning, went outside and wife's car fired right up! I don't believe in replacing working parts, but if you have to remove the intake to get to one, replace them all while you're there. ******** Arizona had Bosch glow plugs on sale for $12.67. Hopefully cheap insurance I want be back doing it again any time soon. IP seal replacements went smoothly, no leaks now.

Have the 4 pack of tri star bits from Autozone, but when you put a socket
on top of it to turn, there's no clearance at the front of the head to get
it lined up correctly to turn. Don't want to chance stipping out head bolts
recessed that far down with limited access. That would be a pain to get one out. For $20 and change I'll wait for the tool that fits correctly. With two of these cars I figure I'll use it again. Got it from Fastlane.

Pulling the head is one thing. Not looking forward to reassembly. Hate the thoughts of getting the timing off.

Anyone out there know what not having the heat shields on a couple of the
injectors would cause...nailing, smoking?

Overheating of the injector nozzle and eventual failure.

Hmm... 602 must be tighter than 603.

Missing seals might cause a compression leak which could lead to smoking. I don't know about nailing. I thought that was more related to injection timing and fuel quantity, neither of which would be affected by missing seals.

If you get new seals under those injectors and the nailing continues, check into new delivery valve seals. You're gonna get good at pulling the intake manifold

Sixto
87 300D