Gentlemen, fellow scholars. I am about to start pulling my hair out.

I got a '99 e300td with 156k on it.
had to replace the glow plugs on it 'cause the GP & the check engine light came on ( ran the codes, it was for the glow plug failure). I went to my regular mechanic who said he will gladly replace them for me. About 2 hours into the job he called me back and said he's not willing to risk snapping them off so he replaced my intake manifold gasket and put everything together and i had to pay him for 2 hours of well, bull**** labor.

i decided to give it a shot myself and it didnt really go so well...i got #6 out without any effort, it was so easy i practically took it out with my bare hands. #5 was a bit more tedious, but it eventually it came out. #4 snapped off pretty much immediately. #3 wont budge at all. #2 snapped. #1 wont budge either.


since i'm already screwed and getting it machined will cost me about 2500....getting a brand new head will cost me about 3gs...i might as well try to drill them out myself.

so...my biggest fear is stripping the threads on the head, anybody have any tips on how to avoid that? i read a few guides and it seems to be pretty much the same process - drill from the center out, every time using a bigger bit until you practically see the threads from the head showing. But how do i get the leftover material from the GP OUT of the threads in the head without damaging them?


please advise. i think im starting to get gray hairs.

thank you

- nazar