I purchased a nice 1996 E300 last week. It has 140k on it. It’s black with tan interior. It’s about as clean of a car as I’ve ever purchased. The previous owner said that the glow plug light started flashing and then would no longer illuminate. He figured it was a faulty glow plug or two and began the repair himself. He managed to replace all but one glow plug. Glow plug #2 snapped off in the hole and he then tried to drill it out. He realized that it would be best to remove the head to do so, so he began removing everything necessary to lift the head. He was very meticulous with keeping everything organized and together. He then decided that he didn’t really want to dig into it any deeper (so he said) and let the car sit for two years covered up next to the barn. This is where I came in. A family member of his is a friend of mine and knows my love affair for all things Mercedes Diesel. She told me about the car and put the owner and I in touch with each other.

I drove 2.5 hours to see the car and knew that I wasn’t going to give the $800 he was asking for the car in the condition it was in, so I offered him significantly less than what he was asking. He agreed and I had the car towed to my parents house just 50 miles away. Over the past few days I have put the car back together just so I could see if it would fire up and run. It finally fired up and it sounds disastrous, especially with compression coming out of the #2 plug hole. I will take it all back apart and inspect everything. I have another OM606 head stored in my garage. It came off of a ‘95 E300 that had an “oil cooler” leak into the coolant. I was just learning on the OM606 engines at the time and didn’t really know about the type of oil cooler that was used on them. I had ANOTHER OM606 engine stored behind the shop and I used the head from it after I had it completely reworked. It now lives in my ‘95. Anyway, I can now see that the plug hole has been damaged and will need the expertise of a machine shop to make it right again. For now, I plan to use my known good cylinder head to see if I can get this car on the road. It’s way too nice to part out. I hope to buy some time with the used head and have the present head on the car reworked and installed in a few months.

Any pointers that any of you w210 diesel owners can give me?

Should clean up nicely

Attached Thumbnails

   

No rips or tears

Attached Thumbnails

 

Joined the club!

__________________
1998 Ford Escort ZX2 5 speed - 279,000 miles My Daily

1992 Mercedes 300D 2.5 202,000 - Pure junk
2000 Mercedes E320 Black - 136,000 miles - Needs repair

Don't forget to grease the screw and threads on the spring compressor.

For sitting next to a barn under a tarp for years, it looks pretty good.

The car is worth the effort. It is one of the best vehicles I have ever owned. Great mileage, comfort and handling, and not that complicated to work on compared to the newer vehicles. Two main problems with this model are the glow plugs, which often break off, which you are aware of. This other issue are the spring perches. In my case, the passenger side spring perch let go without warning taking half the passenger side engine compartment with it. The car was parked when it happened so it was not a catastrophe. Had the car up on a lift for tire rotation a week before it happened, and everything looked fine with the factory coating in place, but underneath corrosion that could not be seen had taken its toll on the perch mount from the inside out. Good luck with you fine looking car!!!

__________________
96 E300d

How badly mangled is the hole? Is there enough meat left to set a Time-Sert?

Funny I am about to head to the garage to do this to my son’s E300.

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/397076-om606-glow-plug-change-one-broke-off.html

If the plug is still in the hole I have the Muller drill out kit that works great if you want to rent it.

__________________
The OM 642/722.9 powered family
Still going strong
2014 ML350 Bluetec (wife's DD)
2013 E350 Bluetec (my DD)

both my kids cars went to junkyard in 2023
2008 ML320 CDI (Older son’s DD) fatal transmission failure, water soaked/fried rear SAM, numerous other issues, just too far gone to save (165k miles)
2008 E320 Bluetec (Younger son's DD) injector failed open and diluted oil with diesel, spun main bearings (240k miles)

1998 E300DT sold to TimFreeh
1987 300TD sold to vstech

It’s repairable. I’m gonna send it to a machine shop to have it thoroughly gone over after I have the used head installed and get the car in my own garage. I also have some other things that are higher on my list of financial priorities for now.

Believe it or not, im trying to thin out the herd. I’m giving my ‘87 SDL to my dad once I have the ‘96 out of his driveway. I have a ‘90 VW Jetta that is going to my brother as soon as I have the head back on it. I have a couple of parts cars that I keep hidden behind my shop. One of them, a ‘92 300D, is going to the person who purchased my ‘93 300D a few weeks ago. The other, a ‘90 VW Jetta shell, is going to the scrap yard. That leaves me with a ‘96 E300, a ‘95 E300, an ‘85 VW Jetta, and a ‘93 Chevy S-10. Oops, I didn’t include the 2017 Kia that my daughter had a college. I’ve got plenty.

How are you liking the Kia? Would you recommend it? So far I have been apprehensive with quality and longevity concerns about the Kias.

I bought a brand new one in 2013 and gave it to my daughter to drive to high school and her job. She kept it through her first two years of college and I bought her another brand new one. Very dependable.

That is quite a good rec.