Quote:
Originally Posted by Skid Row Joe
Just had two glow plug cavities helicoiled on a '99 W210 turbodiesel. Glow plugs were stuck because of carbon build-up, and were summarily drilled-out......
Is this an acceptable, permanent, long-term, viable fix or repair? The car seems to be running perfectly in the 50 miles or so, being driven daily since the helicoiling installs.
Will it ever compromise the seal of the cavity to the atmosphere, i.e. loss of compression, or shoot the glow plug out / malfunction?
I'm skeptical as to the feasibility aspect of anything approaching long-term (years/10s of thousands of miles) on a helicoil in the glow plug cavity.
Any actual, experience in this arena greatly appreciated!
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We have used helicoils in far more stressful applications than GP's.
As they are not going to be removed any time soon ~ hopefully only every few years, you should not get too concerned.
Nate's use of a Timesert is an alternate & in some situations is a better choice.
I would have used a helicoil. You now have a hard metal thread for the GP to screw into & minimal loss of head metal.
If when the new GP fails you find the helicoil unscrews with the GP you may wish to weigh your options.
There are many applications where alloy has steel thread inserts as the alloy thread is not durable enough. You could look on your situation as an upgrade.
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1967 230-6 auto parts car. rust bucket.
1980 300D now parts car 800k miles
1984 300D 500k miles
1987 250td 160k miles English import
2001 jeep turbo diesel 130k miles
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