More than a fair point. This is the best reason to upgrade.

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'79 240D

My plugs were Bosch's. I noticed a huge difference in both cars that I did the swap on, and both had healthy engines

Oh, and I know I am in the minority, but I really like using loop GPs in my 220D. I wouldn't own that car if speed of transportation was vitally important to me.

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1968 220D, w115, /8, OM615, Automatic transmission.
My 1987 300TD wagon was sold and my 2003 W210 E320 wagon was totaled (sheds tear).

What is it you like better about the loops?

Another thing you must put into searching, is that there are two types of glow plugs.....pencil upgrade and the standard ones that post late 1979 w123s use....while the people who agreed that monark glow plugs are perfectly fine....were they commenting on the upgrade plugs or the standard? I am not starting an argument of which brand to use, use what you like and I will use what I like.....but take your own advice while research and take into account the year if the post plus what type of plug they used.....as the upgrade plug may be assembled in a different factory then the standard.....another interesting factoid, if monark glowplugs are so high and mighty, then why are the Bosch upgrade plugs sold out everywhere?

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A good point, though I doubt that you did what you recommend-and that's what triggered the criticism. I found no bad or good reviews specific to the Monark wide plugs. Did you? I have no firsthand knowledge regarding those plugs. Nobody that I know does, and nobody here, including you, has claimed to have any experience with them. For all I know they could well be crap, but since I don't know, I don't endorse or condemn them. You don't seem to know any more than I do, yet you deliver a blanket condemnation with what appears to be nothing behind it. The OP seems to be the one member that has installed them, so we'll see what he thinks down the road.

As for the current availability of the Bosch plugs, their availablity or lack thereof implies nothing, and what you want to suggest is hardly fact.

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'79 240D

Speaking of avoiding points of failure, an old 220D has no glow plug relay and no glow plug fuse, so it is already ahead (?) of some of the more modern cars in avoiding points of failure.

The reason I like the series GPs is that I know right away if one of my GPs has failed. My understanding is that depending on which GP fails with the pencil plugs, your GP light may or may not indicate a failure. I never have to wonder. (keep in mind I live in a mild part of CA, so a complete failure of the GP system is not life threatening)

My 220D has the 5th GP filament on the dash behind the steering wheel. It is a pretty neat way to know how bright the other GPs are glowing. If I went to series plugs, I would need to bypass that indicator. It would be sad to me to lose one of the very unique features of my car.

Also loop GPs typically do not typically need reaming. Also, I have never heard of a loop gp getting stuck in the head.

But at the end of the day, my preference for loop GPs is primarily that I like the quirky aspects of the car.

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1968 220D, w115, /8, OM615, Automatic transmission.
My 1987 300TD wagon was sold and my 2003 W210 E320 wagon was totaled (sheds tear).

^^^^ you make an awesome point on loop glows.....my car had upgraded plugs when I got it so I didn't do the mod.....unfortunately they cut the ground strap but I love the idea that you know right away if your plugs are good or not.....if one breaks, you know it needs replacing....where as a pencil upgrade with not show its self unless removed and tested.....if I ever need new plugs I may contemplating going back to loop and keep a spare or two in the glove box.....quirky features are the best part of these cars....I love my evil servo system because of that....

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The plugs in my kit game in Bosch boxes, so unfortunately I'm not a good test case for the "Monark controversy".

We do love our quirks in owning these cars, that is part of the charm. I always liked the super old school glow plug "indicator" that was another glow plug in the dash, talk about a simple and effective engineering solution!

Loving the "quirkiness" of the ACC unit is a bit too far for me though, I think whatever Mercedes executive made the call to replace the best system ever created (the one I had in the 75 300D) with that abomination should be bludgeoned with it.

Right now instead of three 40 second glows and crank crank crank it's one ten second glow and the engine fires as soon as I turn the key. I have a slight miss the first ten seconds or so I still have to rectify, but I will not miss those loops the slightest bit. I'll bet it's the one injector that looks different than the others.

"Three 40 second glows" is a LOT! That must have been on a very very very cold day. That is way outside the recommendations of MB that came with our cars, so I wonder if something else was going on. After I replaced my GPs the first time (as a preventative measure upon obtaining the car), I noticed that the required glow time was much longer. It turns out that there was so much caked on dirt/oil on all the connectors that my "fix" was actually worse than before. I lived with it until the Bosch plugs started suffering premature failure due to my engine running too hot. So I took it all apart again and used sand paper and steel wool to clean everything. I also used antioxident grease on all the connections. This is the grease you are supposed to use for aluminum wiring in homes (kind of the opposite of dielectric grease).

If I didn't know better, it would be easy to conclude that my new Beru plugs work way faster than my old Boschs. But it is just that I got everything cleaned up appropriately. Your experience of going from 3X40 seconds to 10 seconds is remarkable. My w124 probably needs 15 seconds of glow to start without too many misfires. And my w115 probably needs 30 seconds of glowing. These numbers are on a cool San Luis Obispo morning, which is probably 45 deg F. The compression on the w115 is good (400 psi or more), but I haven't checked the w124.

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1968 220D, w115, /8, OM615, Automatic transmission.
My 1987 300TD wagon was sold and my 2003 W210 E320 wagon was totaled (sheds tear).

I just talked to the Bosch folks and was told I would need a new controller for the relay if I installed the 80035 glow plugs in my '78 300CD. Is that why"someone" sells a kit with a remote controller?

The kit is meant to replace the original glow control and relay instead of trying to find rare and expensive original equipment. The pencil style 80035 glow plugs will work just fine with the original relay and timer but you will have to "manually" time the glow your self rather than waiting for the glow light to go off.

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Current fleet
2006 E320 CDI
1992 300D - 5speed manual swapped

former members
1984 300D "Blues Mobile"

1978 300CD "El Toro"

This is correct but I have noticed on my 77 the light seems to function normally. Not sure what the reason is but I'm not complaining.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

No you don't....my 78 works just fine, glows stay on for less then 15secs when hot and no more then 45 when cold....

If you have to manually count the glow, there is something wrong with the relay or temp sensor in the head....

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