replacing starter and glow plugs on 300SDL. Any tips?
 

Hello all,
Changing starter and glow plugs this weekend. Any tips I should know before jumping in? Is removing the ait intake the easiest path to the starter for removal? Will brake clean or knocker loose help with loosening glow plugs?
Any tips will be appreciated.
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The starter is nowhere near the intake. It's a bit of a puzzle to get it out of the engine bay once it's free. Turning the steering wheel might help.

There's many ways to get to the glow plugs. I prefer to remove the cruise actuator. On an SDL there isn't a washer bottle in the way. You can remove the intake manifold and replace any missing or broken injector line clips along the way.

The glow plugs shouldn't be on so tight that you need anything more than 4-6" of leverage. They exposed part would snap off if they were any tighter.

Sixto
87 300D

When I did the starter and the glowplugs on my car, it wasn't a hard job. I didn't take the intake off when I did the gp. I just used a 10mm and 12mm deep sockets, 1/4 inch drive rachet, a few extensions, a universal adapter, and a long pair of needle nose pliers.
Starter is pretty straightforward. Undo the wires, make sure you don't mix them up, and undo the 2 bolts. 17mm IIRC. You kind of have to maneuver to get it out of the AC hoses IIRC. I didn't have to turn the wheels or anything. Just jack up the driver's side of the car and go for it. You will have to take the pan out from under the engine if you have one still there.

GP done. I could not get any leverage on the starter bolts. So I was just going to take it in and have it done and gt the car inspected at the same time. Yeah right, I can hear a spinning noise under the hood and I am assuming its the starter. Amosfella, how high did you have the car jacked up or was it on ramps? I had mine on ramps and there is little room for leverage. Any suggestions on removing those two bolts?
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ball end hex wrenches
 

Get a set of ball end hex wrenches (or sockets) if you remove the intake to change the glow plugs. Some of the bolts are very close to the intake runners and being able to offset the wrench a little makes it much easier.

I need to get it started to get it back on the ramps. Will a few good smacks with a hammer on the starter do?
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I just used a racing jack. In most cases I find the ramps to be unnecessary, but then again, I have 2 hydraulic racing jacks to do it. For this job, I only used one on the jack point under the front drivers side support.
The jack point is right under the place where you put in the tire changing jack, but I wouldn't recommend using the tire changing jack. Too many things to go wring with it in my opinion.
I would leave the car jacked up on one point for any longer than is necessary. I left one up for 2 days, and came back to a bent rim.
As for how high, the first one I did was probably jacked to 14 inches. The second time around on my friend's SDL, it was in the city, and I jacked it up enough with the tire changing jack to lay 2 2"x6" pieces of wood under it and let it down. Didn't want the car coming down on me. I found it easiest to work when I was laying between the jack point and the tire on the driver's side.

About leverage, I had a long handled flex head ratchet IIRC. It seems to be easier to undo the wires from the top.

Ok, starter on. I had a hard time getting the intake manifold lined back up. There is a plastic piece that lines up on the underside of the intake on three of the holes and I could not get the hex screws all the way back in on those 3 holes. Now there seems to be a knock. I can only assume it is leaking where those 3 screws are not lined up. Can I just pull the plastic piece aside and tighten the screws back?
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