W164 Broken Glow Plug Tip
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Nov 2015
Posts: 33
Likes: 7
From: Wellington NZ
ML320 CDI W164 2006
W164 Broken Glow Plug Tip
Hi,
Was replacing my faulty glow plugs. Used Kroil a few times to ensure that the plugs were not not seized in. With the engine warm the first plug came straight out but with 10mm of the tip missing. I hand cranked a long drill bit to clean out any gunk in the cavity but got nothing. As the extracted plug was clean I presumed that the broken tip had disintegrated and was long gone.
On installing the new plug and starting the engine I get a loud clicking sound. I am presuming that this is the broken tip that has fallen into the cylinder head.
Have not run the engine except for a few seconds.
Any help, tips, thoughts, ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Andrew
Was replacing my faulty glow plugs. Used Kroil a few times to ensure that the plugs were not not seized in. With the engine warm the first plug came straight out but with 10mm of the tip missing. I hand cranked a long drill bit to clean out any gunk in the cavity but got nothing. As the extracted plug was clean I presumed that the broken tip had disintegrated and was long gone.
On installing the new plug and starting the engine I get a loud clicking sound. I am presuming that this is the broken tip that has fallen into the cylinder head.
Have not run the engine except for a few seconds.
Any help, tips, thoughts, ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Andrew
Member
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 138
Likes: 1
From: SF Bay Area
w211, w221, w220, e46
I've seen this happen before on a gasoline Mercedes. Honestly, unless there is a super vacuum out there for this job or you can take the heads off. Your best bet might be to start it and get the RPM's high up, like rev to 3.5-4k. Hopefully the broken tip will just exit through one of the exhaust valves. Don't risk it based on my word tho, I just know someone who did this once and they got lucky.
Good luck, there might be some cylinder scoring tho
Good luck, there might be some cylinder scoring tho
Junior Member
Joined: May 2011
Posts: 37
Likes: 2
From: New Zealand
2009 MB ML320 CDI
I've seen this happen before on a gasoline Mercedes. Honestly, unless there is a super vacuum out there for this job or you can take the heads off. Your best bet might be to start it and get the RPM's high up, like rev to 3.5-4k. Hopefully the broken tip will just exit through one of the exhaust valves. Don't risk it based on my word tho, I just know someone who did this once and they got lucky.
Good luck, there might be some cylinder scoring tho
Good luck, there might be some cylinder scoring tho
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Nov 2015
Posts: 33
Likes: 7
From: Wellington NZ
ML320 CDI W164 2006
Was thinking of ideas and am a complete novice....
If I take the glow plug off and take the injector nozzle out then put some high pressure air through the glow plug hole would this help get the bit out of the nozzle hole ?
If I take the glow plug off and take the injector nozzle out then put some high pressure air through the glow plug hole would this help get the bit out of the nozzle hole ?
Senior Member
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 427
Likes: 57
13 GL350, 14 SL550
Some ideas:
Get one of those Home Depot inspection cameras with the flexible tip. Stick it in and see if you can see the tip sitting on the piston head or not
Get a shop vac as strong as you can find. Get a funnel and stick it in glow plug hole. Put shop vac on wide side of funnel. You'll need to find a funnel with the largest tip you can so it doesn't prevent the tip from coming out the hole. Consider getting a cheap set of assorted sizes and cut down the tip to 1/2" long or less. You just really need the cone part as an adapter to hold the shop vac onto. Hope this makes sense
Is the tip magnetic? Use one of those magnetic parts retreival tools to get it out.
I wouldn't run the engine with that tip in there. I would think (even due to the cost) it is safer to take the head off and remove it, than to damage something. It could jam up a valve, score cylinders, jam between piston and sidewall and mess up a ring, and lots of other bad things. It won't go away on its own!
Mechanics have something that is called a borescope that they can look inside engines with. If all of the above fails, tow it to a local shop and have them take a look. Sometimes they can do amazing work on stuff like this.
In any case I'd avoid running it any more at all, untill you get the part out.
Get one of those Home Depot inspection cameras with the flexible tip. Stick it in and see if you can see the tip sitting on the piston head or not
Get a shop vac as strong as you can find. Get a funnel and stick it in glow plug hole. Put shop vac on wide side of funnel. You'll need to find a funnel with the largest tip you can so it doesn't prevent the tip from coming out the hole. Consider getting a cheap set of assorted sizes and cut down the tip to 1/2" long or less. You just really need the cone part as an adapter to hold the shop vac onto. Hope this makes sense
Is the tip magnetic? Use one of those magnetic parts retreival tools to get it out.
I wouldn't run the engine with that tip in there. I would think (even due to the cost) it is safer to take the head off and remove it, than to damage something. It could jam up a valve, score cylinders, jam between piston and sidewall and mess up a ring, and lots of other bad things. It won't go away on its own!
Mechanics have something that is called a borescope that they can look inside engines with. If all of the above fails, tow it to a local shop and have them take a look. Sometimes they can do amazing work on stuff like this.
In any case I'd avoid running it any more at all, untill you get the part out.
Super Member
Joined: Jun 2014
Posts: 507
Likes: 25
From: Massachusetts
2014 Smart ForTwo Passion Cabrio
Oh brother. Guess which is cheaper -- taking the head off to get the tip out, or replacing the engine...
BHA's ideas are spot-on. There are plenty of ways to take care of this issue without risking ruining the engine.
BHA's ideas are spot-on. There are plenty of ways to take care of this issue without risking ruining the engine.
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Nov 2015
Posts: 33
Likes: 7
From: Wellington NZ
ML320 CDI W164 2006
Guys I had the engine running for around 3 seconds. What do you reckon is the worst case scenario of damage that I can expect due to the broken glow plug tip sitting on top of the piston?
Been to a workshop and they are painting a real horror story for me. Cant afford to get diddled on this one.
Thanks.
Been to a workshop and they are painting a real horror story for me. Cant afford to get diddled on this one.
Thanks.
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Super Member
Joined: Jun 2014
Posts: 507
Likes: 25
From: Massachusetts
2014 Smart ForTwo Passion Cabrio
Guys I had the engine running for around 3 seconds. What do you reckon is the worst case scenario of damage that I can expect due to the broken glow plug tip sitting on top of the piston?
Been to a workshop and they are painting a real horror story for me. Cant afford to get diddled on this one.
Thanks.
Been to a workshop and they are painting a real horror story for me. Cant afford to get diddled on this one.
Thanks.
Your best bet is to be INFORMED. Remove as many of the unknowns before agreeing to any work. Short of opening the engine, the recommendation of having someone OTHER than this mechanic use a borescope to look inside the cylinder where the piece of the glow plug fell into is a dead-on suggestion. It is entirely possible that the piece is still in there, and can possibly be retrieved without opening it up.
However, keep in mind that even if you can do this, you will still have to deal with the unknowns -- you may have damaged something else in there, like a ring, or scored the cylinder, or damaged a valved, and you may wind up paying for the mistake anyway. The borescope inspection may or may not reveal these things. You can bet you now have Murphy's undivided attention.
I'd say you are in the process of learning what could be an expensive lesson, but there are ways to mitigate this if you are smart about it and don't jump to conclusions. Sorry I don't have more positive things to say, but this is what comes to mind. Good luck, I hope everything works out for ya.
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