why don't you get a tap for the drilled hole into the water jacket, and just plug THAT?

there is NO WAY the glow plug tip would be safe to hold coolant, or remain where it is under driving forces... carbon WILL leak both, and fail at some point.

if you have a drill bit into the coolant passage, tap that hole, and plug JUST that hole, then, since you already drilled out the GP threads, perhaps you can access the gp with the right size bit, and tap it then slide hammer pull out the tip... and THEN install a plug to seal everything up...

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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
1987 300TD
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

A lot of comments I need to respond to since yesterday. First and foremost funola has been asking me to get some depth measurements and compare that to a GP on the bench. Here's what I came up with:

From the face of the head, I drilled 2" deep with up to a 1/2" drill bit (all Threads are gone at this point). Beyond that I drilled another 7/8" deep beyond that with a 13/64" bit (this was when I thought I was drilling into the center of GP in order to begin the extraction method). But I never hit the center of GP.

So I took a pic of a GP to show you the depth comparison:



And this second picture I angled the Glow Plug over my diagram to simulate how I THINK I am off on my angle:



Now moving on to vstech's most recent comment.. (By the way, Thank you very much for getting involved in discussion and sharing your vast knowledge. I know most of you must be disgusted with my stupidity here.)

My comments in italics:

You will see in this next picture that there is 2 breaches of the coolant passage. I can plug the tiny one (red arrow). But the gaping hole on the right (Green Arrow) is unplugable with a tap. It seems JB weld or a tig Weld would be the only way to close that? Also note I believe that both the red arrow and the green arrow is indeed the same coolant cavity. At some point I will confirm this by poking a wire into the red and see if I can snake it out the green side. I will also go further and remove broken Heat Exchanger and snake a wire in there to see it that is also the same passage.

Labels:
Blue Arrow - What I believe to be the dead center of remainder of GP
Red Arrow - Coolant breach right at the the bottom of the 13/64" hole, which recall is 2-7/8" deep from the face of head.
Green Arrow - Gaping breach of coolant passage.

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Mike Mass
Freehold, NJ

1999 E300 TD 178,000 miles
2007 E320 Bluetec - Sold

1998 E300 TD - R.I.P.

Maybe this will help too. I think the pics I have provided show more detail. But here it is in video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVKIUW_PCeE

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Mike Mass
Freehold, NJ

1999 E300 TD 178,000 miles
2007 E320 Bluetec - Sold

1998 E300 TD - R.I.P.

I wanted to follow up and let you know I haven't forgotten this request. I will get to it this weekend and report back. Maybe tonight if I have time. I've been reading through some threads on removing these injectors. I know there's a special socket. But it appears most guys have agreed that a thin wall deep socket 22mm will do the job just fine. I also understand the area around the injector should be "surgically" clean?

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Mike Mass
Freehold, NJ

1999 E300 TD 178,000 miles
2007 E320 Bluetec - Sold

1998 E300 TD - R.I.P.

Those who would look down on you are forgetting their past. We've all had those 'what the heck have I done,' moments. That's the only way to learn that OCD is your friend.

It gets easier with age.

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84 300SD
85 380SE
83 528e
95 318ic

Holyguacamole! I didn't notice that gaping hole to the right until you pointed it out. I thought it was a shadow before. If using jbweld, you might need to wad some fiberglass cloth to keep the jbweld from running in to the water passages.

Sent from my SGH-T889 using Tapatalk

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1982 300sd from craigslist $800 greased on one tank with NO CONVERSION in the Hot Texas Sun. (currently dead & awaiting engine damage investigation and/or longblock swap)
new daily: '03 vw 5speed jetta tdi wagon. bagged&chipped

Mike,

Congratulations for hangin in there and being determined; you almost gave up.

There's a lot of ideas and info being thrown around here, try to focus and take your time. Wait for a good solution that feels right for you. Remember you are the only one who is there.

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Yes, these are GREAT ideas. Non of which I would have thought of. I just don't want you guys to get bored with me. 8 page thread in 3 1/2 days!

Some of you may be saying: "WTF are you waiting for? You have a ton of ideas. Implement one of them already"

I wish I can chat here, get a request from you guys, run out to the car and answer request. But please understand. I chat on the forum while at work. Home is an hour and 30 mins away. So that is why the questions you guys ask me get answered the next day.

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Mike Mass
Freehold, NJ

1999 E300 TD 178,000 miles
2007 E320 Bluetec - Sold

1998 E300 TD - R.I.P.

Mike, great job with the photos and the drawings. Now that we have more concrete data of where the breaches are, instead of guessing.

If your assessment of the photo with the 3 color arrows are correct, it looks like you have also drilled through part of the glow plug taper sealing surface of the head as well as into the coolant passage near it, so you are dealing with coolant breach as well as combustion gas breach, which makes it much more challenging to "plug" up.

Is the coolant expansion tank empty? How fast was the coolant coming out? I'd suggest this test: Before pulling the injector, assuming the head is fully drained of coolant, mix up some color dyed water - food dye red would be good for contrast. Set up your camera focused well into the hole and make a video as you pour the dyed water into the expansion tank. It will capture if the coolant is coming out of one or two breach(es).

Where do you want to go with this? Do you want to try to keep the car on the road w/o pulling the head? It will be fun to try. If so, I would not try to extract the remnants of the glow plug. It is needed for combustion gas seal. I don't think set screws and epoxy will hold up to combustion gas.

I am thinking something like this:

Tap the 1/2" hole for a hex bolt (where the glow plug thread was, do not use pipe thread!) Make a plug out of lead with a pointy end matching the 1/2 drill point of the existing hole and long enough to cover the big breach area (melt some fishing lures and make a mold). Hammer the lead plug into the hole with a punch and hammer to expand it so it fills any space between the lead plug and the hole, then tighten the bolt and force the lead plug further in. I think lead melts at around 600F and it may work. You can always tighten it more to exert more pressure.

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85 300D turbo pristine w 157k when purchased 161K now
83 300 D turbo 297K runs great. SOLD!
83 240D 4 spd manual- parted out then junked

Yes, clean and dry so debris and liquid does not fall into the pre chamber. I'd recommend lot's of compressed air and brake clean till it is absolutely dry before removal. The purpose of this exercise is to look for signs of coolant in the pre chamber, you don't want any liquid contamination to "cloud" the results. Let's hope it is dry in there.

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85 300D turbo pristine w 157k when purchased 161K now
83 300 D turbo 297K runs great. SOLD!
83 240D 4 spd manual- parted out then junked

Don't know, didn't think to look. I doubt it because it's not like cupfuls came pouring out.

Not fast at all. As a matter of fact all it did was seep back into the hole I was making. (Remember my initial assessment I thought it was fuel? This is why). Car was on complete level ground at the time. I can't picture right now if expansion tank is higher than GP ports. But also note this. While I was doing the doomed drilling, I had already broken off the heat exchanger. I had that removed along with the hose to the HE disconnected to give myself more room to get in there with drill. So any spillage had occurred from that level already.

I'm doubt it is. All in all I lost about a coffee cup of fluid. (16 ozs tops?)

Sounds like a fun plan. Wouldn't my snaking around a wire back there tell be the same thing?

As far as you wise gentlemen will take me. I am intrigued to try this now!

Yes. Ideally I would like to try a quick fix like we are discussing here, with the option of pulling the head down the road when I am willing to spend the money. My concern is: If this doesn't work and I cause catastrophic failure... i.e. hydro lock, bent rod, blown piston (By the way, I have no idea what I just said there, just throwing out some fancy terms I've seen you guys use. LOL). It's a risk I am willing to take. Not like the car is worth much now.

I agree with this. At least something appears nice and sealed. I don't think I should "open up" anything further for now. Sorry to those who are saying to pull the remnants out. I am open to hear the arguments for and against it. But logic is telling me to keep that vital area closed

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Mike Mass
Freehold, NJ

1999 E300 TD 178,000 miles
2007 E320 Bluetec - Sold

1998 E300 TD - R.I.P.

I agree with you on this. Good thinking.

No offense, but considering how this has gone, I am assuming you don't have the skills and the tools to properly align a tap so that you get a good seal at the GP / head surface.


tapping the head material where the GP threads were originally seems the most solid.

Then the "bolt" that you send in there should make contact to the back of the existing GP. You can shape the end of that "bolt" to make contact in a way that improves contact with the GP (when the time comes).

Alignment of the tap is going to be critical.

You wont really need to seal anything as long as that "bolt" firmly pushes on the back of the GP as you thread it in.

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Good assumption. Tools yes. Skills, no.

I am going to need help when That time comes. For now I will do the probing around/red dye test. Pull injector if you all still feel that is necessary. And then go from there.

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Mike Mass
Freehold, NJ

1999 E300 TD 178,000 miles
2007 E320 Bluetec - Sold

1998 E300 TD - R.I.P.

Not really, since you cannot see what's behind the snaked wire.

You say only a coffee cup of coolant came out. If so, your expansion tank (which is always higher than the head) should not be empty, and coolant should still be seeping out the hole slowly. Open the expansion cap to allow air in, coolant should be pouring out and the expansion tank will empty in due time.

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85 300D turbo pristine w 157k when purchased 161K now
83 300 D turbo 297K runs great. SOLD!
83 240D 4 spd manual- parted out then junked

I am going to draw you a "bolt" in CAD then post it.

I won't have exact dims, its just a reference for thought.

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