300D 1978 glowplugs and injectors
 

just one quick question...
i had purchased a new entire set of glowplugs for my car. I did hear some stuff from my technician saying that some of the injector nozzle are leaking internally in my car; and it happens when the car is off and sits after a drive around the corner....

If i install these new glowplugs will these so called "leaky" injector heads waste my investment and cause the glowplugs to fail again....or is my technician tryin to pull more money outta me??

your thoughts are appreciated...

allen

I can't answer the injector question, but I do know that unless your car has already been converted, you will be much better off to convert your glow plugs to the pencil type plugs that fit in the larger threaded loop style plug holes. There is a it at Fastlane, but you can install the plugs without the whole kit as long as you make your own jumper wires to go from plug to plug.

well it sounds like a great idea however i would like to try to keep the original style of the plugs....

thanks for the advice however...
allen

With your loop type glow plugs, they rarely need replacing. What happens is that the hole that they fit into in the pre chamber gets gunked up which makes a high resistant short to ground, leaking away the current that would otherwise serve to make heat.

The answer is not replacing the plugs, rather it is cleaning the holes. Do NOT use a steel brush of any kind as small metal bits will make its way into the cylinders. Use a hardwood stick that is shaped so as to scrape out the gunk, or spring for the expensive reamer tool which makes the job quick and easy.

As for the injectors, they should not bleed off a drastic amount of fuel.

Hope this helps,

I recently put the pencil type plugs in my 77 300d and cold weather starting is GREATLY improved. I couldn't figure out why the 85's started so much better until I did the switch. Now there is no difference between them. The pencil type plugs added at least another 10 degrees to the lowest temperature at which the vehicle would start, perhaps even 15 degrees.

now i kinda curious now on this procedure for swapping out to these new pencil style glowplugs...does it really improve that much for the preglow?. and is it a really hard task to convert the original loop style to the pencil style.....

thanks ...
allen

Procedure for converting is almost as easy as replacing the existing plugs. Remove the old plugs and resistor wires that join them together. Screw in new plugs. Connect the wire from the harness to the first plug, then you have to connect each plug to the next with a small jumper wire (these jumper wires come with the kit but would be very simple to make with wire and connectors from the hardware store--about 8 gauge wire and crimped connectors). DO NOT RECONNECT THE GROUND WIRE AT THE FRONT PLUG. They you're good to go.
The kit includes a new relay which shortens the glow time and gives a short afterglow. While I bought the kit, I did not install the relay, since my old one is working fine. This means the dashlight glows longer than necessary but I don't worry about that.

The improvement in cold starting is very remarkable!