I have a really potentially serious problem with a 240D, the problem started with the glow plug in the second position w/ respect to the positive side of the circuit, this glow plug (only 2 months old) dead shorted to ground and exposed the first upstream glow plug to over 50 amps at 12VDC until the fuse finally blew, the small loop heating element burned open and apparently there is a small piece of it left in my cylinder because I can hear it, of course I have not started the engine since realizing that something is very wrong and that my motor never made any sounds like that ever. My question is: what might be the best and most economical way to resolve this problem?

Can I get inside the cylinder through the glow plug opening?

I have an estimate of 893.00 to pull the head including parts. This is a lot more money than I have right now, and of course might only reveal serious engine damage which might total the car.

I really appreciate any of your thoughts or suggestions on this issue.

1979 240D

It most likely hasn't got into the cylinder, it's probably stuck in the prechamber. Try removing the glow plug and use a small pick or magnet but if that doesn't work then removing the injector is your best chance as i'll give you a larger access hole.

OK, so it is either somewhat or very unlikely that something small could be pulled from the prechamber into the combustion chamber based on design? I am hoping the latter is true and that what I am hearing is actually the tip bouncing around in the prechamber on the vacuum and compression cycles, does that make sense? it is a pinging sound and does not track the revs.

Thanks again for your suggestions, I look forward to your replies.

greenmerc1

I wonder if it is pre detonating the fuel by being small with no heatsink & hot ?.

zsermyxr68.l;

I just noticed that 1 of those little hoses is broken off on the rear most injector, what does it do? couls that be making noise?

The piece is unlikely to have passed through the small prechamber tip holes. Remove the glowplugs and crank the engine for several seconds to blow it out.

Thanks for the input, I did remove the glow plug and then turned the motor over, voila! there is no pinging sound now.

I plan on going in with a scope cam when I replace my injectors, so frustrating that 4 of these glow plugs are swinging to ground, (less than 80 ohms and 1 dead shorted) I am pretty sure this is a manufacturing defect, should have went with Bosch I guess, Thanks again for the help.

greenmerc1

You will not be able to see anything with the injectors removed. The prechamber tip holes are less than 1/8" diameter and you cannot see past them. You will need to remove the prechambers to see into the cylinder.

Upgrade to the pencil plugs. The part number is Bosch 0 250 201 010-710

Hey thanks a lot for the info Nuke, I just ordered 4 of these pencil types, these are 12 volts each right? much better, even if one does fail the other 3 will still work, here is a link for anyone who is interested:


https://www.germanautosupply.com/store/

I am hypothesizing now that what really happened was the piece of glow plug element knocked a piece of carbon loose that temporarily interfered with the fuel delivery on that cylinder, thus the terrifying momentary loss of power, of course at the time I was visualizing a nightmare scenario where the glow plug piece was getting stuck in one of my valves and/or scarring the sleeve.....obviously I know next to nothing about diesel engines, I don't want to run gasoline ever again! this is the only way to go, kudos to Rudolf Diesel a real luminary.

Yes. You can still use the factory timer and fuse but you must eliminate the resistor wires between them and ground strap on the last plug.