Hi Everyone.

The car is an '87 300SDL. I found out over the weekend that one or two of the glow plugs on the SDL has malfunctioned and I've decided I'm going to replace them all. I have read in previous posts some people remove the cross over pipe and the intake manifold.

I was looking in the service manual and it says nothing about removing these two items.

My question is: has anybody changed the glow plugs without having to remove the intake manifold and cross over pipe?

After looking at the location of the plugs, I think that I can get my hands down below the intake manifold.

Herb
'82 240D
'87 300SDL

You need a swivel socket of the appropriate size (12 mm?) -- that is, a swivel that has the socket on one side, not a separate swivel. One the proper size for the wire nuts will also be helpful.

That and a long extension will allow glowplug changes without removing the manifold. Much less time consuming. There will be a way to reach all of them -- probably some under and some through the manifold.

You have plenty of room in the SDL -- kinda tight in the 300D!

Peter

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1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!

Thank you, Peter, for the tip. I knew there had to be a way. I was also thinking of swivels but separate without the socket built in. I'll be buying a set of sockets with the built in swivel.

Herb
'82 240D
'87 300SDL

Well, if you want to know the truth I did it last month on my 86 SDL.

My experience is that if you know which one is bad and you luck out that its one of the ones you can get to then you're ok. But as luck always has it, the one you want is under the fule lines behind the manifold. Ain't no way to get at it or them.

In short, you have to take off the 1 fules llines, 2 the cross over pipe, 3 the intake manifold. Belive it or not.... it is easer and quicker to take all the stuff off first and change all the plugs while you're at it. Autozone has the stock Bosch glow plugs for $7.99 ! I learned the hard way. Also, have plenty of anticeptic on hand for all the skin scrapes and scratches you are going to recieve.

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1986 SDL
My Other Car is a Porsche. When it stops leaking, I'm out of oil.

Yes, it can be done with the manifold in place. Cylinder #3 is the worst because it's behind the bulk of the I/P. I have never done it but I've been told it's possible.

HOWEVER, it will take you so dang long to do it this way, it is much easier and faster to just remove the intake manifold! It's not as hard as it looks. Also, the fuel injector lines do NOT need to be removed. The manifold slides out with the lines in place. Since the intake gasket tends to fail relatively often, I'd pull the manifold, do the glow plugs, and you'll get a new intake gasket out of the deal at the same time. It took me 3-4 hours when I did it.

While it's apart, you may consider doing the I/P vac shutoff box - this is a major PITA to do with the manifold on, but takes 10 minutes with it off. Removing the ALDA speeds it up even more. Now would also be a good time to remove the cap on top of the ALDA if you want to adjust it in the future. Photos of when I did this job are at this URL:

http://www.meimann.com/images/mercedes/OM603_intake/

Attached Thumbnails

 

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Dave
Boise, ID
Check out my website photos, documents, and movies!

Yuckola
That intake pipe wasn't a pretty sight at all.

I'm going to rip mine off as soon I get home from work tomorrow.
I do not intend to drive around with a car that suck air through a ****storm!!

I guess it's that silly EGR valve that causes this buildup primarly?

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/Per

MB E300TDT -98

per eriksson,

Yes, it's mostly the EGR valve causing the gunk. Although you can't tell in the photos, ther gunk buildup starts at and above the EGR port opening into the intake/mixing pipe. Below that, towards the turbo, it's squeaky clean. What's more frightening is removing the corrugated/accordion pipe between the exhaust manifold and EGR valve. Now THAT had some scary crud inside! It's amazing that MB would want that entering the combustion chamber *on purpose*!!

I plan to make a block off plate for the intake side of the EGR valve, which should be simple. However, it will be trickier to make a plate for the exhaust manifold side. The design is weird. It looks like a circular shaped piece of sheet metal, gently hammered to form to the round EGR exhaust port shape, might do the trick under the funky clamp. Some high-temp RTV probably wouldn't hurt either. I'll see what happens when I experiment...


Regards,

__________________
Dave
Boise, ID
Check out my website photos, documents, and movies!

GSXR/Dave,

I am probably going to do my intake tonight or tomorrow. I was not aware that you could remove the intake without removing the fuel lines. Pretty interesting. Cool photos!

By the way, I checked out yhe rest of your pictures, pretty cool and informative.

Well guys, I got it done. I replaced the glow plugs on the SDL without having to remove the cross over pipe and the intake manifold. It took me almost all evening tonight but I finally got it done and now the glow plug light comes on like it should. The key to doing it is getting a univeral joint, a 10MM socket , 12MM deep well socket, torque wrench, and a set of extensions of various lengths to poke thorough small spaces. I also used tape to keep the new glow plug in place in the deep well socket while installing it.

Had I seen the pictures that were posted by gsxr before I attempted this endevour, I would have probably removed the cross over pipe to examine the inside......man, the pictures are very illustrative of what an egr can do. I just recently disconnected the egr on this car; the car only has 100K. Oh well, I guess that will be another job that I will need to do.

Herb
'82 240D
'87 300SDL

Curd build up are combination of blow by oil and the stuff from EGR. a kind of stickly.

I changed the gps(300D) lask weekend. I agree it is a lot easier when the intake manifold is off(I planned on cleanning it anyway). With manifold on and fuel lines off will help too. My EGR pipe from maifold was not as bad, it had a little powderly black stuff in it. but the cross over tube and the intake manifold were the worst. What I found at idle it would be blowing too. Now I have my EGR blocked with a piece of metal plate. so far I haven't experienced any problem yet.

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BJ

09 GL320 Bluetec 65K+
07 E320 Bluetec 43k+
05 Nissan Frontier NISMO 4X4 72K+


07 Kawasaki Vulcan 900 5k+ gone
87 300SDL 158k+ gone
91 300D 113k+ gone
83 300SD 220K+ gone
89 300E sold
87 190E sold
83 380SEL sold
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The Good Fellow,
What did you make the plate out of??

Mine is made out of an old computer case. 2-3 mm thick. Use the old gasket to draw an outline before you cut, drill two holes in it and you are done. I have it sandwiched in between two gaskets. the old gasket is on EGR side. you can hardly see it.

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BJ

09 GL320 Bluetec 65K+
07 E320 Bluetec 43k+
05 Nissan Frontier NISMO 4X4 72K+


07 Kawasaki Vulcan 900 5k+ gone
87 300SDL 158k+ gone
91 300D 113k+ gone
83 300SD 220K+ gone
89 300E sold
87 190E sold
83 380SEL sold
http://banners.wunderground.com/bann...TX/Houston.gif

I am going to make a block off plate. I cleaned my intake about 10,000 miles ago and it was all gooey again last night. When I removed the intake this time, I did not have to remove the fuel lines.