Reamer coating is a pretty high volume operation. You are probably looking a 0.5 cents worth of grease times five glow plugs. Just the thought of that makes me wish I had a 240D instead of a 300D.

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When cryptography is outlawed, bayl bhgynjf jvyy unir cevinpl.

Glow plug maintenance is a complex subject. We are just now dealing with grease color schemes. Once that is complete, we can move on to selecting the best phase of the moon for GP reaming.

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When cryptography is outlawed, bayl bhgynjf jvyy unir cevinpl.

Only moon phases? I'd have thought astrological phasing would be more important! Seriously though, this thread has really grown some legs...

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Current stable:
1995 E320 157K (Nancy)
1983 500SL 125K (SLoL)

Gone but not forgotten:
1986 300SDL (RIP)
1991 350SD
1991 560SEL
1990 560SEL
1986 500SEL Euro (Rusted to nothing at 47K!)

Gone and wanting to forget:
1985 524TD 167K (TotalDumpster™) [Definitely NOT a Benz]

I want to buy one of those drill bit reamers.....

I have quite a few different types of grease for various applications .

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-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

blahhh i hate having to take off all the linkage and the hard lines and all that!!! haha but i got it done. tried to work around it for a while but wasted a good 45 mins doing that lol


ok so how come i would unscrew the plugs all the way and when it got to the end no matter how much i ratchet wrenched them they wouldnt screw completely out??

had to unscrew and pull at the same time by hand to get them all out? is suction hold them in?

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I have got the plugs loose then,stuck a piece of hose on,the,end and turned it out like used to be done on spark plugs.

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85SD 240K & stopped counting painted, putting bac together. 84SD 180,000. sold to a neighbor and member here but I forget his handle. The 84 is much improved from when I had it. 85TD beginning to repair to DD status. Lots of stuff to do.

I'm told that's because of the accumulated carbon you're hoping to remove .

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-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

Sounds like your plugs were were all carboned up. I reckon you now have the answer to your poll question.

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When cryptography is outlawed, bayl bhgynjf jvyy unir cevinpl.

I have a '98 e300. I voted to ream. I've owned it for nearly 11 years and have changed the glow plugs twice. It's a major project to change glow plugs on my car, because the intake manifold has to be removed.

The first time I changed them, I was an absolute newby and went by the book, except for the number 1 (front) cylinder. I had a devil of a time getting that glow plug out. (The rest came out easy.) I carefully reamed the back five cylinders, but just went through the motions on the front one as I was afraid I had damaged the threads. Well, the car worked well for three years, then one of the plugs went bad -- it was the front one.

This time, I spent a lot of time on the first cylinder, using the reamer five or six time -- until I got no carbon when I used it. I think I would not have had to do it a second time if I had reamed the 1 cylinder better the first time.

Taking the intake manifold of is such a pain in the rear, that buying a reamer is merely an incidental expense on my car. I now think a person should continue reaming on each cylinder until ha gets no more carbon on the reamer. I am not a typical diesel owner. In the nearly 11 years I've owned the car, I've put only 45,000 miles on it. That is an average of 4 to 5 thousand a year. Today is a typical day for me. I went to McDonald's for breakfast (a half mile); then drove to Office Depot to buy some glue (a half mile); then drove to the other side of the strip mall for scotch (a block or two); then drove home (less than a mile). It's not the best way to keep a diesel in tune.

I think it depends on the year since the pre-chambers vary. Some have a narrow throat, which places the glow plug in a "cave" that may trap carbon. A guy here posted photos showing both types years ago (search). In at least one of my 300D's, while doing an injector job I looked straight down at the glow plugs to insure the tips were glowing. There was no carbon at all and pre-chamber was an open bowl w/ the cross-ball thing below the glow plug. Probably my 1985, but perhaps w/ the replacement engine (~1982), so I can't say which type was earlier. Non-turbo's may be different still.

Once, I ran a tap thru all the glow-plug holes as a reamer and it came out clean, showing no carbon to clean. I recall that was the time I looked down, since recall seeing the tap protruding into the pre-chamber. Thus, I haven't worried about it. BTW, you can buy a full set of metric taps for the cost of the single reamer, and probably need a set for other things. For removing & installing glow plugs and their wiring nut, a ratcheting box wrench is a great tool since you can swing it between the injector tubes. With a regular box wrench, you will spend a lot of time fooling w/ the wrench and dropping it.

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1984 & 1985 CA 300D's
1964 & 65 Mopar's - Valiant, Dart, Newport
1996 & 2002 Chrysler minivans

Yes, the first time I removed my Glow Plugs 2 of them made an eeking sound as I backed them out.


Another reason for stuck Glow Plugs in a 617.952 Engine are if you used Glow Plugs like Autolite Glow Plugs. I had he tips on two of them swell up in only 6 months uses. I almost did not get one of them out.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

That squeak is a scary sound to the experienced Mechanic.....

I'm using Monark GP's now ~ I hope I haven't screwed the pooch .

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-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

[QUOTE=vwnate1;3793501]That squeak is a scary sound to the experienced Mechanic.....

I'm using Monark GP's now ~ I hope I haven't screwed the pooch .[/QUOTE}

I corrected my past post. It was Autolite Glow Plugs that the tips swelled up on. However, I replaced them with Monarks because that is what I already had.

2 of the Monarks lasted only one year here in sunny CA but non of them swelled up. But, I do glow before each start.

The picture I attached in this thread of a Glow Plug that is heating in the middle instead of the tip is a Monark Glow Plug.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

Glow plugs do not "swell up". Their tips get coated with carbon from a poor running engine.

In some cases, they most certainly do.

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When cryptography is outlawed, bayl bhgynjf jvyy unir cevinpl.