How hard is it to change out glow plugs on W124?
I have a 1991 300d, need to change out the glow plugs. Getting prices of $250 or so plus parts.
Not sure if I could do this myself, but the $250 sounds steep. |
$250 sounds like a bargain to me considering the manifold and a few other ancillaries have to be removed to get to the GPs.
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You can R&R all gp without removing the manifold. It is difficult but doable. How you value your own time? I value my time at much less than $250.
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$250 is fair for that job.
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You don't have to remove the manifold, but it makes life a lot easier. If you use common sense, and have some mechanical aptitude, I'm 100% confident you could spend the price on parts and do it yourself. It's going to cost you about $80.00 in parts.
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If you do it yourself, one option is to change only the glow plugs that need changing, another to do the glow plugs that require removing the manifold, a third to do all of them. If you have to pay someone to do it, it's better to do them all and pay labor only once.
Also, don't cheap out on glow plugs: Bosch or Beru only! Finally, list price for glow plugs can be as much as $30 each depending on part Number and source, and as little as $5-10 each if you shop around. A shop that will use your parts to do a job would be wonderful; my local Indy explained that the parts mark-up paid for the shop (labor pays for HIM). Jeremy |
I dont see how you could change the plugs in a 602 turbo without pulling the manifold. You would need tiny hands and more flexibility than a yogi master. In any event, pulling the manifold to clean out the carbon should be done on the same schedule as changing the plugs. Its not hard, but it takes time. $250 sounds about right for a shop.
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They are impossible to get at and impossible to remove. I got a quote from "Page Auto" in Green Bay, Wis. $500 minimum and if any break off they would call me if it exceeds $2000.00! How crazy is that? I love my car but I am living with dead glow plugs and have to plug the engine heater in all winter long just to get it started. Very poor design by Mercedes. |
Use penetrating oil a few days prior and warm the engine
Read up on how to get them out. If worse comes to worse and they break, drill them out.
When you put new ones in, use anti-sieze and change them at 60,000 mile intervals. |
My mechanic changed them without removing any parts!
My mobile mechanic changed all 5 glow plugs on my 1991 300d without removing any parts. He has all kinds of swivel tools.
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I feel your pain! This is the kind of situation that pushed me into figuring out how to do these jobs for myself. It may push your skills and patience, but it's far from impossible: http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/376521-om606-glow-plug-removal-tips-tricks.html http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/382267-95-e300d-fully-unthreaded-but-stuck-glow-plug.html |
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Yes it is good and proper for a shop to manage expectations around a potentially complicated and expensive repair. I believe there's more than one way of doing that, given the job of replacing GPs in an OM606. My thought about packerfan's experience is that I'd want to know my bill was going up from $500 to $2000 well before being called to pick up the vehicle. I'd want the chance to say "stop there" before taking on $1500 more in charges. It's as if the shop is giving itself license to bust off glow plugs and send the head out for repairs willy nilly. From my own experience with OM606 glow plugs I'd venture that a experienced mechanic knows when a GP is so tight they risk breaking it off, and can stop before that happens. If I were the "shop" in this case I'd be willing to take a look at the GP situation, for a fee, and provide options and set expectations from there. If I were looking for a shop to do the job for me that's what I would want. That's how I work when estimating repairs to the old watches I work on. I charge a fee to take them apart and have a look before providing a detailed estimate. Works pretty well. It allows me to provide a more precise idea of what the maximum charges will be or could be given different scenarios/options. Sorry to have taken this thread a bit off the original topic. :D |
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