Had trouble starting car. On Monday I put in 2 Autolite glow plugs, hoping it would help till it got warmer weather. Next day it wouldn't start, so we got a ride on a flatbed. Got 5 new GP's ( reamed ) adjusted valves, injection pipe, and a breather hose. Runs great, even shifts gears a lot better.
This morning I went out and started up. 18 degrees F. Started like it had been running just minutes before. ( I am using a hose heater )

The 2 GP's I put in were melted - Autolites. First time I used them, and the last.

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1984 MB 300SD Turbo

I had heard that about Autolites too, I only use Beru or Bosch. Glad you got it fixed, I'm having a similar problem with my sons 85. I've only been able to get two new plugs in, too much stuff in the way of the others!

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Muleears
'07 E320 Bluetec 133K my DD
'04 Jaguar XJ8 VDP, 34K
'10 Hyundai Accent 60K Grocery Getter
'02 VW Golf soon to be on the road again
'97 E300 Diesel Son's DD
'61 VERY tolerant wife

Hampton Roads, VA USA

Gone but not forgotten:
'67 250S 95K
'86 300SDL
'87 300D Turbo, 364K! R.I.P.
'98 E300 Turbodiesel, 213K
'02 S420, 164K
'01 Prius 138K

Yea... They make a huge difference.....Same here. I had 2 autolites in mine. The car would stumble when started. I replaced those 2 with Bosch. Now all 5 are Bosch and they all read the same on the ohm meter. The car starts fine now and settles into a nice smooth idle. No more stumble on start up.

Edit: #5 had me cussing for a second or 2.

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AJ

1985 300D (SOLD)

Does anyone have any experience with Beck/Arnley glow plugs? I bought a set for my 240D from ********, and they seem to work just fine. They are CHEAP and made in Germany!

Haha, you sure seem to cuss a lot when working on your car.

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Current cars:
2000 ML55 AMG, 174k miles
2003 C240 T-Modell, 202k miles
1995 S320, 207k Miles

Did the same with mine last fall...amazing difference and worth the time and effort (aka contorsionism to reach GP's) to change out all the GP and adjust the valves. Forgot to plug it in last night and it fired right away at 10*F this morning MUCH better than last year.

Adjusting the valves makes a HUGE difference for cold weather. Don't discount it's effect.

Autolite = Junk
Bosch or Beru = Good

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-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

I just changed a couple last night also. I am lazy and remove the lines for the IP. Quick to do, and much easier access. Also one of those ratcheting box end wrenches is great!

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83 300SD Dark Silver Dark brown inside

NGK are terrible as well. Got 2 sets of them, the first time as I didn't know, the second time as I had a choice, They lasted more or less 6 month...
All berus now

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E300TD year 2000. RUSTY SOLD
cost a fortune to maintain on the road
but run well on WVO
Second Merc died due to corrosion ( NOT rust) How can mercedes get away with that for so long?
Third lasted a month then went away...
Fourth now... Corroded too...

Sorry to hear about Autolite woes. I personally have never had a problem with them but I have read that the Ford diesel crowd does not like them. I've had a set in my 86 Golf D for seven years and I'm sure they could be replaced but they still seem to work properly. Back when I bought them the price differential between Bosch was at least 33% so I opted for the Autolite.

The NGK I've also had, in a 1982 Datsun Maxima diesel and I found them to be a very good plug. The key I think with any glow plug is to always run the same manufacturers plugs and do not intermix brands. The specifications for each maker are slightly different and mixing can be a problem.

Fortunately I have a pretty healthy supply of Monark diesel GP's for the VW idi diesels and I have as well an extra set of Bosch for the TDI.

steve a

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Steve A
92 W140 OM603
97 VW Jetta TDI
90 Passat variant TDI 6 speed MT
94 Chevy K1500 6.5TD
05 E320 CDI
+ others

I think this is the key point, I don't know why but on the E300TD they don't last. On others car they have a good name, not on older MB.

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E300TD year 2000. RUSTY SOLD
cost a fortune to maintain on the road
but run well on WVO
Second Merc died due to corrosion ( NOT rust) How can mercedes get away with that for so long?
Third lasted a month then went away...
Fourth now... Corroded too...

Certainly you'll get no argument there. There are certain brands that will work better than others in certain vehicles. NGK probably made the OE plugs for the Datsun.

Is anyone using the Duraterm Chromium glow plugs?

regards
steve a

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Steve A
92 W140 OM603
97 VW Jetta TDI
90 Passat variant TDI 6 speed MT
94 Chevy K1500 6.5TD
05 E320 CDI
+ others

i am from eastern pa. did you do the work? if not, who did? i can always use good help & advice with my 300D

No I didn't. More money than I wanted to spend, but after driving it was well worth it.

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1984 MB 300SD Turbo

RyanZ, you can always do those jobs yourself with not much of a possibility of issues. Between the archive information and the active site it would be hard to go wrong. All items were just standard maintenance really.