I've neither an om606 nor the intention of ever owning one.

And yet, I find reading about the successful removal of these notoriously seized glow-plugs enormously satisfying.


Godspeed!


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1981 240D 4sp manual. Ivory White.

Many thanks Shern! So far not too terrible I think, even though it's not the most enjoyable task. Once they're all out and replaced it will be satisfying indeed. I'm about 8 hours into it at this point, with 2 plugs ready for the slide hammer. The other 3 are almost ready for the slide hammer, I still have a little clean-up to do on the threads in the head. I'll get out there later this afternoon to make some more progress.

__________________
Current fleet:
1998 E300 turbodiesel
2008 E320 bluetec - leaky oil cooler seals replaced
2012 S350 bluetec
2015 GL350 bluetec

Sold:
1996 Passat TDI
1997 E300 diesel

With the head threads cleaned up now, the #2 plug is ready to extract. In goes the 5/16" threaded rod. Then the slide hammer onto the end of the threaded rod. Looks like this:



It took ~10 solid kung-fu slams on the slide hammer, and out came the #2 plug. Probably the first time it's seen the light of day since '98 assembly in the Fatherland:

__________________
Current fleet:
1998 E300 turbodiesel
2008 E320 bluetec - leaky oil cooler seals replaced
2012 S350 bluetec
2015 GL350 bluetec

Sold:
1996 Passat TDI
1997 E300 diesel

Next I used Diesel911's advice and put some grease on the 10 mm drill bit. Using fingers alone, I ran the bit down the glow plug shaft to clear out any carbon. I followed it up with the same procedure using the 7 mm drill bit, to get down into the narrower part where the glow plug tip lives.

The surprising thing to me, was how much carbon came out on the 7 mm bit. There was some carbon on the 10 mm bit, but the 7 mm bit would not even go down into the hole! I had to do lots of twisting to grind away all the carbon that was caked up down in there around where the glow plug tip would be. I wonder if the reason these things sieze up is not because of carbon around the body, but rather because of carbon around the tip and sealing ledge?

I followed up with a shop vac with a reducing adapter, held up to the glow plug opening for a few moments to suck out any remaining loose carbon dust.



With the hole cleaned out, time for a shiny new plug:



While on my Bluetec, I used Hylomar on the plug bodies, I'm going to try the factory prescribed ceramic paste on this car instead. I'll report back in ~10 years to let you know which performs better. Both should work well, as they're both non-hardening and with high temperature stability so the goo won't melt and run off.



All lubed up. I cleaned the body and tip with Brake Clean first before applying the goo to the body and threads:



New plug installed and torqued to 11 ft/lbs. The spec is 20 Nm on these, which is 14.75 ft/lbs. I reduced this by 30% to account for greased vs dry threads.



One down, four more to go...

__________________
Current fleet:
1998 E300 turbodiesel
2008 E320 bluetec - leaky oil cooler seals replaced
2012 S350 bluetec
2015 GL350 bluetec

Sold:
1996 Passat TDI
1997 E300 diesel

WOW!! I'm speechless. All I can say is "that was amazing". Way to show 'em who's boss! You deserve high praise and "a round on me". Really nice work.
I just got myself a 97 E300. The PO assured me the glow plugs and relay (which looks new) had been changed by the MB dealer a couple years ago. I guess we're gonna find out. So far mine starts effortlessly with temps in the "20's".
Thanks for the awesome tutorial and pics! Cheers!

Since you're in the rustbelt then check your front spring perches.

I remember that W210 taxis in europe were already having problems with them around 2005.

Whoa great write up. I’m thoroughly terrified of E300s now.

__________________
79 300TD “Old Smokey” AKA “The Mistake” (SOLD)
82 240D stick shift 335k miles (SOLD)
82 300SD 300k miles
85 300D Turbodiesel 170k miles

The one I used to have came with a receipt for $3k for having the head removed and broken glow plugs changed by a machine shop.

Thanks for the kind words 123boy and ykobayashi!

I applied the same formula for removing the rest of the plugs. For the #6 however, the threaded rod and slide hammer would not work, as the firewall was in the way. I cut the threaded rod in half, and used a deep socket, some washers, and a nut. Turn the nut until it pulls the plug up and out of the head.





Here's the group photo, all the party guests who've overstayed their welcome:



You may be wondering why there are five electrodes here, but only four plug bodies. Yeah, about that.....

__________________
Current fleet:
1998 E300 turbodiesel
2008 E320 bluetec - leaky oil cooler seals replaced
2012 S350 bluetec
2015 GL350 bluetec

Sold:
1996 Passat TDI
1997 E300 diesel

You know how when a good party is coming to an end, and all the guests are starting to leave, there's always that one guy who wants to keep the party going? When everyone else is heading out, he's lighting something on fire and streaking naked. Well his spirit is alive and well in one of these plugs.

Which one isn't like the others:

#1 and #2:


#3 and #4


#5 and #6:

__________________
Current fleet:
1998 E300 turbodiesel
2008 E320 bluetec - leaky oil cooler seals replaced
2012 S350 bluetec
2015 GL350 bluetec

Sold:
1996 Passat TDI
1997 E300 diesel

That #3 just ain't right. Was hoping to wrap this all up here over the long holiday weekend, but it wasn't meant to be.

While I was cleaning out the cylinder head threads on #3, some large pieces of glow plug thread fell down into the hollow glow plug body. There must be a burr or something down in there, because the pieces didn't want to come out with the magnet. Ok, no big deal, I'll use this drill bit with my fingers to pull them out. Put it in, started turning it, and the bit got hung up. Ok, no big deal, I'll put the drill on it, and pull it all out. Must have been holding the drill with girlie grip, because it jumped out of my hands and promptly snapped the drill bit. So now there's a ~1" long piece of drill bit stuck all the way at the bottom of the glow plug body. The drill bit piece is obstructing the threaded rod from going in, so I cannot yank the plug body out. Nothing that I've tried has worked to extract the broken piece.

So first plan of attack, is I've ordered a Wise Rescue Bit, which should do the trick. Of course now I have to wait a few days for it to arrive in the mail.

If that doesn't work for some reason, plan B is to put everything back together and go for a drive. It will start and run just fine in winter on 5 good glow plugs. The threads in the head have been fully cleaned and prepped for extracting the plug, so the only thing holding the plug in place now is the carbon build-up. I've read that once the threads have been drilled out, the heat + combustion pressure cycles will eject the remainder of the plug.

The good news is that for all cylinders, the aluminum threads in the cylinder head are good and solid, so no timeserts were necessary. And the problem child is the number #3 plug, which is the easiest and most accessible one to work on.

I guess while I'm waiting for the Rescue Bit to arrive, I can start to reassemble things, put the oil filter housing back on, etc.

__________________
Current fleet:
1998 E300 turbodiesel
2008 E320 bluetec - leaky oil cooler seals replaced
2012 S350 bluetec
2015 GL350 bluetec

Sold:
1996 Passat TDI
1997 E300 diesel

Jeez Louise! Guess I'll be finding out if I'm in trouble with my jy motor since I'll be doing(or attempting) a compression test first before it goes into it's new home. I'm glad you shared all this to help. People like myself who have never worked in one of these. Since it's out of the car I guess I have a little advantage on access. My question is, are there any preemptive strikes I can take to help not end up back here looking at what tools I need. Maybe torching everyday for however long? Anyway thanks again for a detailed thread.

Sent from my SM-J737A using Tapatalk

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WARNING!!! VINTAGE MERCEDES MAY MULTIPLY UNCONTROLABLY!!! I have tons of Sl/Slc parts w108 w111 w126 and more. E-mail me with needs
BirchsgarageMB@gmail.com

they need sparkplug sized threads for aluminum head diesels

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1999 w140, quit voting to old, and to old to fight, a god damned veteran

There is a good video on youtube put out by "Team Boosted" on a 606 out of the car going into a japanese car. They call it the diesel 2JZ and do the glow plugs in the video put out a week ago.

The video ccrelan mentions uses an impact gun at low speed. The hammering action of the impact slowly gets them out without overstressing the metal of the plug bodies. Works great... if none of them are broken already.

If you have the engine out, definitely do the plugs while its out. Better access, and a lot more comfortable than leaning over the fender. Also do yourself a favor and replace the oil pan gasket and rear main seal. Both are so easy with engine out, but are a hassle once installed in the car.

__________________
Current fleet:
1998 E300 turbodiesel
2008 E320 bluetec - leaky oil cooler seals replaced
2012 S350 bluetec
2015 GL350 bluetec

Sold:
1996 Passat TDI
1997 E300 diesel