My very good and faithful 85 300 Turbo D. Been just a little rought starting the past two weeks at 5:30 AM. In the garage and I haven't cranked it since Friday PM. Tried to start it this AM, glow plug light went on and I glowed it. Hit the starter and cranked it up, but it did not stay running this time. So I tried to glow it again, and I thought I heard a distant "snap" like a fuse and my glow ligth went out. Well, I had a known good relay on the shelf and I replaced it. Now still no glow light, tho I can hear the relay shut off after approximately 30 seconds. It does try to start, and now I have it on the heater and maybe I will get it to fire up. But I think it is time to put in new glo plugs. Is the concenus that it is best to replace all five? What about reaming? Some of the posts feel it is necessary, some not. That reamer is expensive for a simple tool. I think a read a post of Tom W. who feels the best way to proceed on the glo plugs is to pull all the hard lines. Lots of work, but it looks that way. Then they would all have to be bled out on re install. Well, there is the first time for everything. Chime in if you have any words of wisdom. Thanks

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Junqueyardjim
Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important. C.S. Lewis



1983 Mercedes W123 240D 4 Speed 285,000 on the road with a 617 turbo, beautiful butter yellow, license plate # 83 240D INDIANA

2003 Jaguar Type X, AWD. beautiful, good mileage,
Mom's car, but I won't let her drive it!

I've never reamed them. If you buy an 8MM and a 12 MM gear wrench you can change all 5 without messing with the hard lines.

On edit; do be sure to get the Bosch ones. The Champions did not last a year.

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1959 Gravely LI, 1963 Gravely L8, 1973 Gravely C12
1982 380SL
1978 450 SEL 6.9 euro restoration at 63% and climbing
1987 300 D
2005 CDI European Delivery
2006 CDI Handed down to daughter
2007 GL CDI. Wifes

If you REALLY don't want to remove the hard lines, at least remove the metal line bricks... what ever you call them, those corners are sharp!
Really, it's not bad removing the lines. and it's pretty simple to bleed them out.
John

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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
1987 300TD
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

I prefer not to pull the hard lines. I've had one finicky about re-sealing, so I don't like to mess with them if I don't have to. After adjusting valves without removing the hard lines, the glow plugs are easy.
I HIGHLY recommend shoving a towel down under your working area, between the IP and the engine. Those 8mm nuts like to hide down there.....
I just quickie reamed with a drill bit (by hand). I picked the bit by sticking the end of the glow plug into the bit holding holes to find correct size. Not as effective as a reamer, but I did have carbon residue on the bit......

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Jimmy L.
'05 Acura TL 6MT
2001 ML430 My Spare

Gone:
'95 E300 188K "Batmobile" Texas Unfriendly Black
'85 300TD 235K "The Wagon" Texas Friendly White
'80 240D 154K "China" Scar engine installed
'81 300TD 240K "Smash"
'80 240D 230K "The Squash"
'81 240D 293K"Scar" Rear ended harder than Elton John

I wouldn't hesitate to remove the hard lines. They are off in 10 minutes and their removal makes your life infinitely easier. Unless they've been damaged due to overtorque, they reinstall without any issues. Just make certain that you install the IP nuts first and then install the injector nuts by hand until you're positive that you've got the thread. Take a wrench to them before you're certain of a proper start and you're toast.

Yeah, Whats up with new glow plugs not having nuts on them anyway?

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1959 Gravely LI, 1963 Gravely L8, 1973 Gravely C12
1982 380SL
1978 450 SEL 6.9 euro restoration at 63% and climbing
1987 300 D
2005 CDI European Delivery
2006 CDI Handed down to daughter
2007 GL CDI. Wifes

They have obviously spent a fair amount of time with my wife.......

__________________
Jimmy L.
'05 Acura TL 6MT
2001 ML430 My Spare

Gone:
'95 E300 188K "Batmobile" Texas Unfriendly Black
'85 300TD 235K "The Wagon" Texas Friendly White
'80 240D 154K "China" Scar engine installed
'81 300TD 240K "Smash"
'80 240D 230K "The Squash"
'81 240D 293K"Scar" Rear ended harder than Elton John

I finally got it started and I think I did have the cylinders somewhat flooded from the two failed starting attempts. So after knowing that the relay was working and after the block heater had been hooked onto for a couple of hours I went back to trying a start. Glo plug light did now come on. Glo'ed twice and cranked her up. But still no go. Tried again and no go. Put on the Battery charger for 30 minutes and tried again, no go. Then I disconnected the plugins on the relay, took off the air cleaner cover, popped open the little box right behind the coolant recovery tank, (had the switch on and trans in park) and then bumped the big and little screws in that box with a needle nose pliars. When it was cranking good I gave it a little wiff of starting fluid right into the air cleaner and it fired in an instant but I had my hands too full and couldn't keep it running. But I think that little wiff of starting fluid cleaned up the fuel in the gloplug area enough that when I went and reconnected the glo plugs, and glo'ed just once, it fired and ran great. But I still feel the glo plugs are weak and so I ordered them from Phil, of course. I still would like to use the offical reamer and if anyone has one, I will gladly pay the freight both ways and a couple of bucks "to boot". PM me if you have a reamer. Thanks

__________________
Junqueyardjim
Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important. C.S. Lewis



1983 Mercedes W123 240D 4 Speed 285,000 on the road with a 617 turbo, beautiful butter yellow, license plate # 83 240D INDIANA

2003 Jaguar Type X, AWD. beautiful, good mileage,
Mom's car, but I won't let her drive it!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Glow-Plug-Reamer-Tool-Repair-Parts-Tools-Mercedes-Benz_W0QQitemZ180066189045QQihZ008QQcategoryZ43998QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

__________________
Jimmy L.
'05 Acura TL 6MT
2001 ML430 My Spare

Gone:
'95 E300 188K "Batmobile" Texas Unfriendly Black
'85 300TD 235K "The Wagon" Texas Friendly White
'80 240D 154K "China" Scar engine installed
'81 300TD 240K "Smash"
'80 240D 230K "The Squash"
'81 240D 293K"Scar" Rear ended harder than Elton John

Well it's deja-vu all over again.

I noticed the SD starting on four several times over the last few weeks. Time to figure out WTF the problem is.

Get out the ohmmeter and sure enough........one of them is open. Care to guess which one????



















Yep, you guessed it..........#5.

I don't see any way of changing #5 unless you pull the hard lines. Even with the hard lines removed, getting the nut off the end of the plug without dropping it was no easy task. When it came time to reinstall that nut, I realized that it's impossible with my giant hands. So, the throttle linkage must be disconnected at the firewall and rotated 180 degrees to provide sufficient access to get that nut started.

I figured I'd do the job in one hour before darkness set in. Nope. Over 90 minutes just for one plug.

Gearwrench is the way to go......when I did mine I first tried my 1/4" drive set, wobble drive, various lengths of extensions, universals....nothing would work well due to the lack of space.....but I had a Gearwrench set that I had thought kinda hokey......but found new respect for that Gearwrench!!

I won't even buy Champion spark plugs.......

Someone else, in this thread mentioned a towel.......I hadn't thought of that......will make my next effort better......

And, I also wondered why there weren't nuts on the New Glow Plugs.......

SB

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Diesels:
'85 300D, "Max, Blue Benz", 155K, 27.0 MPG
'84 190D 2.2, "Eva, Brown Benz", 142K, 40.2 MPG
'77 240D (parts car)
'67 Eicher ES 202 Tractor "Otto" (2cyl, Air Cooled, 30HP)
Gassers:
'94 Ford F-150, "Henry", 170K (300 Six) 17.5 MPG
'85 190E 2.3, 148K....Parts Car
'58 Dodge W300M Powerwagon (Flat Fenders) Less than 10 MPG

aren't they always fixed to the harness?

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-justin

1987 300TD, 1987 300TD
2008 R32, 2000 Passat Wagon

They're loose on the OM61X engines. The OM60X have them fixed to the harness........making life infinitely easier.

Ask JimmyL. It sounds like he's lost a couple.

Ahh, but they are a blessing and a curse at the same time that way, lest you be so lucky as to crossthread or strip a nut......ut-ohhhh.......