straight or offset wrenches for changing glow plugs?

I'm going to swap out my glow plugs this weekend and I'm going to expand my tool collection to do it.

Once I remove the rail I can slip a closed end wrench down to the glow plug nut, right? Is it best I purchase offset or straight wrenches?

This is for my 1981 300TD with a 617.952 motor.

[Anthony Cerami]

I recently installed glow plugs in my 1991 (dare i say!) 350SD.
3/8 drive set w/long extension universal joint and a deep well 6 point socket. Im not sure what size sockets you may need.
you may want to try using some "PB Blaster" or another product "Kroil". I use them in my shop.
-AC

[Tim51]

I just replaced the glow plugs on my 84 300D this past weekend. I used a straight closed-end racheting wrench. This was a real time saver. Go to Sears.com and do a search for "Craftsman 7 Piece Racheting Wrench set." I would not want to do this job with a regular closed-end wrench. Oh, and I also removed the high pressure fuel lines from the injection pump to the injectors to give me more room to work.

Tim

If you were able to locate a 1/4 in drive deep swivel that would fit on the glow plug, (??mm) that will get them all out. May require a little help from a wrench to break them free. You will need that small of a deep swivel to get to them all. Otherwise just get used to making a lot of turns with the wrenches. They seem to get stuck in there after they are all of the way turned out.
A glow plug reamer would help that for future work though.

[yannou]

You can do it with classic straight wrench.
You will need a 8 (metric size) wrench to disconnect the wire and then a 12 wrench to unscrew the glow plug.

You can remove the injectors pipes to have more room but if you take into account the time required to performe that, I'm not sure you will save time !

And the final concensus for the WINNER of the "CAVEMAN AWARD" is presented to TexasBill...
spo out.

I have done this both ways, with the fuel lines in place and with them removed. For me it is MUCH easier, quicker and less frustrating to just pull the injector lines.

Good luck,

[dabenz]

shawnster, you use what works. Doesn't matter if your wallet is five feet deep or 1/4 inch thin. Bottom line is to have fun and not hurt yourself or the car too badly.

TxBill300SDLLL, welcome back! We've tried to be nice in your absence.

Wow! TxBill, er, 30SDLLL. Great to see that you're alive and well. We need to have another Texas bash.

Have a great day,

I just changed all 5 glow plugs and the relay on my 83 300SD. This is the second time, and I will NEVER do it again without
pulling the fuel lines or something else off. I ended up with several hours of nasty work that defied an assortment of wrenches & sockets. Also, Bosch doesn't bother to give you a new nut with the glow plugs so you're out of luck if you drop one (or more). My MZB dealer didn't have any, so I ended up at a NAPA store buying 5mm nuts at 8 in the morning along with some more sockets and extensions that didn't help any...

[edge]

Is it easy pulling the injector lines?