have a question here

getting concerned about the glow plug situation on my new car after researching this

how many people on here that had this done by a reputable indie MERCEDES mechanic or the mercedes dealer --that does mercedes diesels all day and has all the mercedes tools they need to do it

has had the mechanic break off glow plugs in the head/car? not be able to get them out, have to pull the head, etc

it seems most of these posts - although not all- are about people doing it themselves

i know the forums are mostly for people working on their own cars, and i am sure most of you know more about your e300 than these other mechanics

but i dont and when i need to change the glow plugs it will be the dealer or my other mercedes specialist mechanic

wondering how paranoid i need to be about it going wrong

i will swing by my indie shop and ask him about this, he loves these cars and this is the model he wanted me to buy when i ask him which 95-2000 year diesels to look at , thinks the motors are great etc

Courtney,
Having the Dealership do this work will not avoid the possbility of a broken GP. You have to assess MB dealer service vs indie. A wealth of info on this subject here. My dealer told me not to attempt removal until car will not start (200K @ that time). I rejected that and followed posts and sucessfully removed/replaced myself.
Do them HOT, Alot juice, Alot of tapping with a small hammer on socket handle, Alot of patience, (3X the above @ 10min intervals, then I removed) Maybe I got lucky.
MB mech's are good, but no guarantee on this work preformed.

Before you get jack up, how many are dead, what are the resistance values ??

Good Luck,

__________________
Gary
Experience is something you get, Just after you needed it....
'99 E300 295K, '83 300D 220K, '75 240D 185K sold
'80 MCI Bus Conv DD 6V92TA, w/4 cyl. Kubota diesel GenSet 12.5KW

Yes don't do this on a cold motor, that seems to make the job a lot more difficult. I too have a 606 in my car, I'll say don't be afraid to go through an entire can of PB Blaster to ensure they don't snap, much cheaper and easier than pulling the head to remove it.

This has to be one of the most frequently discussed subjects on this forum, certainly in the top 10.

Searching turns up a wealth of information. Here is enough reading for the rest of the day.

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1987 300TD 309, xxx 2.8.2014 10,000 mile OCI


Be careful of the toes you step on today, as they may be connected to the ass you have to kiss tomorrow. anonymous

“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter won’t mind.” Dr. Seuss

STOP!! Stop worrying about this and enjoy the damn car. If and when you need to do this to the car, then do your homework. I would say most people that tackle the job don't have the Patience to do the job. If you do it yourself, you will know to watch out not to shear them off and to take your time. Expect the worst, hope for the best and work wisely.

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1979 240D Caledonia Green/cream gone
1982 240D stick Ivory/Palimino
1999 E300D White/grey

Is the fact that the Franchisee's "Service Director" can have the Shop Foreman show you the you the "Klann" (Gedore division that manufactures the "Tool Kit")
Tool Kit! AND the Technician's Attendance Certification for the Instruction
provided by Klann on the PROPER operation of the Tools.

Link to Video of Tools in use:
CDI broken glowplug repair wo/thread repair kit - YouTube

They,(Klann),make different versions of the tools:
with and without thread repair.

Exemplar of why to be SO CAUTIOUS about letting ANYONE without the Tool Kit
Touch your 606's G.P.s :
Removing a broke glow plug from 606 engine head | Mercedes-Benz Club of America

Heck,If I had this Tool Kit I'd let my 3 year old Grand Niece try and R+R OM606 G.P. s with Safety Glasses and a Ball Peen Hammer WITH NO WORRIES!

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'84 300SD sold
124.128

See Here Also:

Cost estimate for OM606 head removal for GP replacement...

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'84 300SD sold
124.128

sorry phyxer, i just like to be educated ahead of time, so was asking questions now

i will go over all this with my indie this week, see if he has the tool, etc

i am also working on trying to get the name of the 1 owner of my new car to see if they can fill me in on more service records/things that have been done, maybe it has new glow plugs

i know that anything can happen working on cars or fixing anything in general

so it could go wrong at my indie shop but i am sure they know to do the car hot and they most likely have the special tools for it, etc, etc
i am not going to worry about it, i think they can do the job and that more of these problem posts relate to people who are doing it themselves
and that is something i dont plan to do

thanks for all the info on this
will see what mechanic says when he goes through the car

I removed stuck plugs from a hot motor and a cold motor. To me there is no difference. I also tried unsuccessfully to remove them with an impact driver set at low torque. I tried freezing them out - no dice. The only time I was able to remove them all at one time was with the engine stone cold with my Craftsman 3/8 drive ratchet and a deep well 12mm six point socket. I used Kroil and PB but when I got them out, the pb and kroil never even touched the stuck part.

My advice is to read all of the threads on this forum and determine what is best for you. You will have plenty to read.

p.s. It took me 7 hours to remove 4 stuck plugs + 2 not-so-stuck plugs from my 95 606 and I read ALL of the threads here. Good Luck!

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2009 E320 Bluetec 117,000
1995 E300D 306,000 Sold
1996 Ford Taurus LX 130,000 Sold
1985 300TD Still 225,000 Sold
2016 Ford Fusion 24,900

What bothers Me about the Glow Plug removal issue by a Mechanic is that they have no reason to be extra careful removing the Glow Plugs.

If one or more Glow Plugs breaks off the Mechanic will not want to try to drill out the Plugs because of the risk of damaging the Head. It is also more Money for the Mechanic if He gets the job to remove and reinstall the Cylinder Head.
So the win win is safety; remove the Head and let the Machine Shop take the risk for the Mechanic more Money.

There might even be an extra charge to take the Head to the Machine Shop.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

Hi Courtney-
Welcome to the forum. You don't say in your profile where you are- and it might help if someone can tell where you are so they can recommend a shop for you.

For me, I did my own GPs in the 190d, but after reading a number of "broken glow plug" posts on e300s- I decided to take it to my indie which also has a machine shop. I brought him new cans of PB Blaster, Deep Creep, and WD40, 6 glow plugs and a new tube of anti-sieze compound. When I dropped it off, I begged them to drench the GPs asap while the motor was still warm. He told me not to worry. I worried anyway- but was relieved when they called to let me know it was "no problem" and the car was ready. That was until I had to paid him $600 for this simple job. Was it worth it? I doubt it-and I'm sure I would have had to pay more if they had broken one anyway. Oh well- maybe I'm wrong and maybe it was better that they did the work.

I think one good piece of advice that I received from one of the gurus on this board bears repeating- replace the glow plugs before they fail- because the longer they are in there- the more likely they are to become seized due to heat and cooling cycles, the build up of soot, and etc. I replaced mine at 140K and it starts perfectly and very quickly now. Maybe replacing them at 140K saved me a cylinder head repair at 200K.?

I have a 99 E300 with 265xxx miles on it in the shop that I'll be going through the glow plugs this morning. They were replaced approximately 2 years ago and at that time the independent shop break one off. All he did was hook another one up and lay it on the intake manifold. It makes it easy to see if the glow plug relay works or not because you can see it glowing.

Last time I did one the worst ones to come out took about 1 hour each to get out. I used a lot of Kroil too.

This car has been running on 100% biod for the past couple years so it will be interesting to see what the build up looks like. I'll post pics if I see anything interesting. I'm getting paid for the job with 100% biodiesel.

That is great to know.

As already stated, get the car and drive the heck out of it.

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Jim

Took 35 minutes to get the intake off, figure out which gp was bad and get it out. Nothing like the biod to insure that these suckers come out easy. No carbon build up whatsoever. It did have some kind of gummy black stuff on it where the carbon would typically be though.

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Jim

Thanks for the update. Yet another good reason to burn b99-100. Are you changing the other 5 while you are there? Slow down or you aren't going to get enough biodiesel out of the deal.

__________________
1987 300TD 309, xxx 2.8.2014 10,000 mile OCI


Be careful of the toes you step on today, as they may be connected to the ass you have to kiss tomorrow. anonymous

“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter won’t mind.” Dr. Seuss

LOL

The owner wants to only replace the bad gp which is fine with me.

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Jim