Newbie 1998 300 TD owner here. I realize the dealer relays that the maintenance data is not complete, but when were the glow plugs replaced on this vehicle? A couple of days ago I read a stream where you guys were replacing glow plugs at 37K, 50K, ect....and it scared the hell out of me. What is the deal? Should I try to buy some cheap and put them away

These kinds of records are not that uncommon with a dealership car nowadays. In my job I often review service histories on various cars of all makes.
Most cars never see a shop, maybe a quickie lube, but the high rollers will spend extrordinary amounts on there autos. I would guess the big spenders are the Cad owners. That is a money pit.
Looked at one last year where the owner had dumped $4500 each and every year into his 82 Deville, since new. That was 85 grand in maintenance. It was worth about the repair bills for the final year of its miserable life, and he still owed money on the ride. Go figure.
The repairs were mostly like" dx- fuel inj #4. R&R. Check this and his wallet. Sent home a bit lighter. $1400. Thank you, and come again please."

narwhal,

don't bother replacing glow plugs until they fail. You can test them with an ohmmeter, they should measure 0.6 ohms each. On the iron-head engines it's not a bad job, but on a 6-cylinder OM603 turbo (which the SDL has) it's a real PITA - best to just remove the intake manifold for access, clean it up while it's out, and replace all the injector line clips too. Photos of this project are here:

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


Regards,

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

No need to squirrel away some glow plugs, because they are not that expensive. You can get them from Fastlane for about $20 each, even though the dealer charged me $40. The problem is the labor to remove the intake manifold. That's where they get you. I searched for, and found, a thread on this site that describes the procedure and it doesn't seem that hard. I will do it myself nex time, and you may wish to do the same.

The last incident caught me by surprise because I was expecting it to be covered under the extended warranty, I was out of town, and it needed to get fixed.

gsxr - please note that narwhal has the 98 E300 with OM606, not the SDL with OM603. I bet they're very similar though, and I may be referring to your pictures when I do my next glow plug job!

__________________
Rick Miley
2014 Tesla Model S
2018 Tesla Model 3
2017 Nissan LEAF
Former MB: 99 E300, 86 190E 2.3, 87 300E, 80 240D, 82 204D Euro
Chain Elongation References

GLow plugs cars starting in the early 90's have 'after glow' to reduce emissions. This '87 603.960 does not have that feature. In cars with afterglow, plugs don't last as long because they are working more of the time. Depends on number of cold starts. Changing plugs on a a 606 is very different from a 603. They must be accessed from underneath the manifold (or remove the manifold).

__________________
Brian Toscano

Auction over ..
She went for $8705.00
Wonder if anyone on the forum was the buyer ??

Jim in Ct ..

That was a good price for the seller. Hopefully, the buyer will be happy with the deal. It is my opinion that the good, "low miles" 80's diesels are showing a little appreciation these days.

__________________
Jim