Several months ago I replaced 2 glow plugs on my 85 300D.
I noticed one of the plugs (#5) had some black carbon deposit on the tip.
Is this normal or not?
Should I clean the engine's carbon build-up?

Thank you



David


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1985 300D Turbo

as far as I know, it's normal. I changed mine last year for the second time. The first time I did it, they were all covered in carbon. When I did it again a year later, after two went bad due to a bad batch of glow plugs according to my local tech, they were covered with carbon again. Always buy Bosch when buying glow plugs, I'd prefer paying a little more and doing it once. By the way, the brand of plugs that went bad were "Monark Diesel." Has anyone ever had experience with these? They were only a few dollars less than the Bosch's when I bought them from a trusted shop. Not the quality I expected though.

Thanks, roadracer

I did use Bosch's glow plugs, from FastLane



David


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1985 300D Turbo

The shop I sometimes use always clean the glow plug cavities out using a type of reem before installing new plugs. The carbon is normal (he says) but excessive buildup can result in shorter life of plugs.

Nic
'85 300CD

I have used the Monark plugs. So far I've replaced two of them after about 10k. I had no choice at the time. I need to use a conversion plug. I have a 77 engine(loop type plug) in a 80 car(pin type). The conversion plug has the big body(21mm) of the loop type plug with a pin type element. I had a few of the Bosch plugs for spares. I was told Bosch didn't make them anymore. andy