On xmas eve the glow plug light came on and stayed on, with lumpy starting etc. Finally got round to having a nose today, after getting some bargain MB Beru plugs off Glycer-rides (thanks mate) and decided I'd try and remove all of the glow plugs as a precaution to them seizing in the head. Only one was faulty, which I've luckily managed to replace, so I atleast have a car which starts properly for the moment.
However, things are FAR from well.
Number two glow plug is VERY stiff- it just about starts moving at 35nm and only goes 1/8th of a turn. This is after much WD40 for several days and getting the engine up to 80degrees C. I've not pushed it past 45nm as this is the breaking point apparently (though I tested the one faulty plug to destruction in the vice- actually it wouldn't break even with 70nm which was when it twisted in the jaws!).
On trying to remove no.4 glow plug with so few newton metres that it didn't even register on the torque adaptor, it just spun round in the head. It did not shear off as I only applied less than 5nm, and besides the glow plug works fine- resistance is as it should be. The thread in the cylinder head appears to be totally mullered, and the plug won't unscrew or pull out, but can be twisted by hand and wobbled side to side!
Remarkably, the engine runs fine, and when I sprayed oil onto where the plug goes into the head there wasn't much in the way of leakage with the engine idling. No chuffing or squeaking noises. I wonder how long it'll be before the plug shoots out (there can't be more than a few slivers of mangled Alu and carbon holding it in).
There is a bill in the service history for about £950 in 2004 for having the head removed due to two seized plugs (one of which is the one which spins around in the head) and the company (Waterhouse MB in Essex) seem to have subcontracted the repair work on the head to a C. Lawes Engineering Co. also of Braintree, Essex. Absolute bodging c*** fu******!
God knows what I'm gonna do. Atleast it starts and runs fine at the minute though that stripped glow plug can't be long for this world if it's been in there since 2004!
IF there is enough meat left around the plug, it could be helicoiled in situ without too much bother, but by the way I can wobble this plug side to side I doubt there is much meat left.
Then there's the stuck one, which still has a chance of coming undone with much screwing / unscrewing and heat and maybe some of that freezing spray to shrink the plug a bit.
Worst case is that the head needs to come off, quite likely I should imagine.
Or maybe I can find a replacement engine...
I have a two post car lift and a good transmission jack.... how hard can an engine change be?
Any observations would be greatly recieved. I actually briefly considered suing said MB specialists or the engineering firm who carried out the 'repair', but it has been so long now there'd be no way of showing it hasn't been manged by someone else since!
However, things are FAR from well.
Number two glow plug is VERY stiff- it just about starts moving at 35nm and only goes 1/8th of a turn. This is after much WD40 for several days and getting the engine up to 80degrees C. I've not pushed it past 45nm as this is the breaking point apparently (though I tested the one faulty plug to destruction in the vice- actually it wouldn't break even with 70nm which was when it twisted in the jaws!).
On trying to remove no.4 glow plug with so few newton metres that it didn't even register on the torque adaptor, it just spun round in the head. It did not shear off as I only applied less than 5nm, and besides the glow plug works fine- resistance is as it should be. The thread in the cylinder head appears to be totally mullered, and the plug won't unscrew or pull out, but can be twisted by hand and wobbled side to side!
Remarkably, the engine runs fine, and when I sprayed oil onto where the plug goes into the head there wasn't much in the way of leakage with the engine idling. No chuffing or squeaking noises. I wonder how long it'll be before the plug shoots out (there can't be more than a few slivers of mangled Alu and carbon holding it in).
There is a bill in the service history for about £950 in 2004 for having the head removed due to two seized plugs (one of which is the one which spins around in the head) and the company (Waterhouse MB in Essex) seem to have subcontracted the repair work on the head to a C. Lawes Engineering Co. also of Braintree, Essex. Absolute bodging c*** fu******!
God knows what I'm gonna do. Atleast it starts and runs fine at the minute though that stripped glow plug can't be long for this world if it's been in there since 2004!
IF there is enough meat left around the plug, it could be helicoiled in situ without too much bother, but by the way I can wobble this plug side to side I doubt there is much meat left.
Then there's the stuck one, which still has a chance of coming undone with much screwing / unscrewing and heat and maybe some of that freezing spray to shrink the plug a bit.
Worst case is that the head needs to come off, quite likely I should imagine.
Or maybe I can find a replacement engine...
I have a two post car lift and a good transmission jack.... how hard can an engine change be?
Any observations would be greatly recieved. I actually briefly considered suing said MB specialists or the engineering firm who carried out the 'repair', but it has been so long now there'd be no way of showing it hasn't been manged by someone else since!