Well, I'm deep into this right now. I went ahead and took the oil filter housing off and yes it's an oily, messy job. Ultimately, when doing this job, you need to drain down the antifreeze so the rear water fitting can be removed for clearance. Also, despite draining the oil from the pan, there' still a bunch of oil in the filter assembly... And it gets all over...

The GP looks like it was broken and partially drilled out so hopefully, I can just tap the remains and pull them out. Fingers crossed.

__________________
-Evan


Benz Fleet:
1968 UNIMOG 404.114
1998 E300
2008 E63


Non-Benz Fleet:
1992 Aerostar
1993 MR2
2000 F250

I'm waiting for something important to happen, like the engine needing a new chain or similar. I ain't paying someone to pull that head and fix it just for one glow plug...

I love my 617

__________________
1979 240D- 316K miles - VGT Turbo, Intercooler, Stick Shift, Many Other Mods - Daily Driver

1982 300SD - 232K miles - Wife's Daily Driver

1986 560SL - Wife's red speed machine

Hmmmm, so the pop and bang noise was not this stuff being blown out, and you still have some old glow plug parts in the hole? I almost thought this was the solution to stuck glow plugs, pull the intake manifold - crank on the stuck plug until the plug breaks off in the head taking care to break it off inboard of the threads, rig up a Kevlar baggie to catch the parts when they blow out, put the manifold back on and run the car until you hear the PoP!Bang!, then take the manifold off, collect your parts in the bag, clean up the threads and install the new plug.

But I guess not. Good luck,

Jim

__________________
Own:
1986 Euro 190E 2.3-16 (291,000 miles),
1998 E300D TurboDiesel, 231,000 miles -purchased with 45,000,
1988 300E 5-speed 252,000 miles,
1983 240D 4-speed, purchased w/136,000, now with 222,000 miles.
2009 ML320CDI Bluetec, 89,000 miles

Owned:
1971 220D (250,000 miles plus, sold to father-in-law),
1975 240D (245,000 miles - died of body rot),
1991 350SD (176,560 miles, weakest Benz I have owned),
1999 C230 Sport (45,400 miles),
1982 240D (321,000 miles, put to sleep)

I never saw this thread, hope I'm not too late.

I have the proper reamer, can send it ASAP. Fire me your mailing adress in a PM, and I'll bring the reamer to work tomorrow to mail it out at lunch.

have you tried a proper size bolt in the hole, just to see if the threads have "bite"?

That "dummy" GP is awesome. Funny someone would go through all the effort instead of just trying to FIX IT

__________________
Jake
1999 e300d PlantDrive WVO/SVO conversion
**note to self: oil changed at 268k kms**
1990 Toyota 4Runner FrankenDiesel swap

Absolutely Amazing what a "Mechanic" can do with the correct tools.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koghDoROFko

The MB version:
http://www.startekinfo.de/etools/content/tool.jsp?toolno=900%20589%2002%2099%2000

__________________
'84 300SD sold
124.128

Right now, I haven't gotten back to it. Most of my problems are because I was not the one to break the plug. I have to clean out everything I can and figure out how much damage was done so I can start to repair it. It looks like about an inch of shaft and the tip of the plug are left in the hole. The next chance I have to work on it is Thursday afternoon.

Jim:

That would be a nice thought but it never happened. I ran the car for a while but nothing seemed to be loosening up. I think the previous drilling/extraction event opened up a leak so the cylinder couldn't develop any pressure to blow the GP parts out. what actually blew out was something that had been used to pack the hole. I still haven't found it...

Jake:

Thanks for the offer, will send a PM. I'm still trying to clear out old parts so I haven't tried to thread anything in there yet.

Comp/Ign:

I've seen that video and it's pretty amazing. Once I figure out exactly what is left to remove, I'll probably fabricate something similar - some drill guides, extended bits, taps, etc... I'm still in the exploring stage.

Thanks for the replies.

__________________
-Evan


Benz Fleet:
1968 UNIMOG 404.114
1998 E300
2008 E63


Non-Benz Fleet:
1992 Aerostar
1993 MR2
2000 F250

Just an update from the weekend. More bad news, I tried tapping the remaining GP with a 3/8" tap and it was still too big. When I tried to pull it, all that happened was that the threaded rod I had stuck in there simply pulled out. The next thing I'll try is a 10mm bolt. I already threaded the hole now, today I'll buy the bolt to try the pull again, maybe tonight or tomorrow.

If this doesn't work, I'll probably have to drill out the plug completely then, try to pull the heating tip separately.

__________________
-Evan


Benz Fleet:
1968 UNIMOG 404.114
1998 E300
2008 E63


Non-Benz Fleet:
1992 Aerostar
1993 MR2
2000 F250

If you aren't sure you've got enough thread for a hard pull, you can always put a bit of copper wire down the threaded hole to give you more "bite" when you screw the bolt in.

I didn't have to do that with mine, but was planning on it if I didn't think it was threaded well enough.

__________________
Jake
1999 e300d PlantDrive WVO/SVO conversion
**note to self: oil changed at 268k kms**
1990 Toyota 4Runner FrankenDiesel swap

Here's an update on my 606 broken glowplug. See post #8. The good news: the stuck tip of #6 glowplug seems to have popped out. The bad news: it happened 350 miles from home, as my wife and son (19) were on the way to San Diego on the 405 freeway in Costa Mesa.
The symptoms: exhaust-like smell inside the car, loss of power, very unusual noises, vibration. After stopping safely on the side of the road, they called me and I listened while they cranked the engine. I heard what I hoped to hear: cranking sound and a sharp pap-pap-pap noise of the compression escaping through the glow plug hole.
Too bad it's Saturday, because the nearest independent Mercedes mechanic, recommended by my friend who lives in the area, doesn't work weekends. They're getting towed to the nearest independent open today, not too far away. We're hoping a helicoil repair will take care of it. It seems helicoils are familiar to mechanics who work on aluminum heads.
It will require removal of the intake manifold, of course, and probably the oil filter housing, and the starter (to get access to one of the filter bolts, according to my local mechanic). I'll post more updates.

__________________
1980 300 TD

1997 Dodge Pickup/Cummins 5.9 12-valve

Well, it's been like 3 weeks and I finally figured out something funny to say... "Piss off Bryan!"

Well, seems I'm winning today. Check it out - Ths is my pulling arrangement. A 10mm x 1.5 bolt with the head cut off and a 7/16 socket with a few washers:



This is the rod I threaded into the broken GP:



And finally, VICTORY!



I'm off to the store to find a 12mm x 1.25 helicoil. The previous person's attempt at removing the plug, left no thread for the new plug to screw into.

__________________
-Evan


Benz Fleet:
1968 UNIMOG 404.114
1998 E300
2008 E63


Non-Benz Fleet:
1992 Aerostar
1993 MR2
2000 F250

I made a special tool so I didn't have to remove the starter. I took an extra 6mm allen wrench, cut about 3" off of it and stuck it into a 6mm socket. This allows it to pass between the starter solenoid and the oil filter housing.

__________________
-Evan


Benz Fleet:
1968 UNIMOG 404.114
1998 E300
2008 E63


Non-Benz Fleet:
1992 Aerostar
1993 MR2
2000 F250

Fantastic piece of work on your part. When I worked on the old VW bug engines, the spark plug holes in the heads were always being stripped out by owners who used too much torque when putting them in. The helicoil worked like a charm. Good luck and again, great piece of work.

__________________
96 E300d

Yep -- I had 2 of them on my Porsche 914 2.0L (helicoils)

One of them actually fused to the spark plug, and it was some offbeat size nobody seemed to carry anymore, so I had to combine one timsert and one helicoil and lots of loctite red.

__________________
Java Developer/Linux SysAdmin

Current:
*1984 300D ~200K,1989 MR2 250K, 2012 Ford Fusion 4.5K (fiance's car to replace the uber-unsafe cavalier)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Past: 1998 Chevy Cavalier ,2005 Saab 9-3 2.0T, 1996 Mazda Protege, 1974 Porsche 914 2.0, 1997 Land Rover Discovery 4.0L/5Speed, 1995 Jeep Wrangler

So you did just let the engine run until the remnants shot out? I would love to hear how this turned out. If there is no other damage from the projectiles or running the engine with a hole unplugged in one cylinder, the real improvement to this method will be rigging something up to collect the parts that fly out and shutting the engine down. Have AAA tow you home and then clean the hole out, and install a new plug.

Jim

__________________
Own:
1986 Euro 190E 2.3-16 (291,000 miles),
1998 E300D TurboDiesel, 231,000 miles -purchased with 45,000,
1988 300E 5-speed 252,000 miles,
1983 240D 4-speed, purchased w/136,000, now with 222,000 miles.
2009 ML320CDI Bluetec, 89,000 miles

Owned:
1971 220D (250,000 miles plus, sold to father-in-law),
1975 240D (245,000 miles - died of body rot),
1991 350SD (176,560 miles, weakest Benz I have owned),
1999 C230 Sport (45,400 miles),
1982 240D (321,000 miles, put to sleep)