aggst1

My R500 is at the dealer for service B. They tell me that MB recommends spark plug change at 78K miles or 5 years whichever comes first and since mime just hit the five year mark it needs it. They quoted $430.

Is this true? I was under the impression that plugs last about 100K miles nowadays. My car has 43K miles now. Any thoughts?

aggst1

Never mind folks. I just looked at the maintenance book and verified this. It is five years or 78K miles.

lkchris

And of course your M113 V8 has 16 plugs.

aggst1

Thanks

grane

I just got quoted $550 for spark plug replacement on my 113 V8 on the G500 at the 100k interval. Why the huge delta in price?

aggst1

Geographic location perhaps? Where are you located? I have noticed in the past my dealer is on the lower side of the price scale when compared to prices of other services quoted by others. The B service for example costs $335, and I typically read others post quotes of $399+

What I am curious however is why the 5 year interval? I can understand the mileage. Do spark plugs corrode or something?

supernsx

I "tried" to replace my R500 spark plugs while I changed out the air filter last month. There is definitely not a good DIY since most of the plugs are in some rare angles with very tight spaces.

aggst1

Yeah, I ve read posts describing that. Although plugs are generally an easy job to replace, they must have special angled tools to do that.

smokersteve

For the R350 it is not a challenge at all to change the spark plugs. They are right under the air filter assembly and once that is off you can pull the coils off and the spark plugs.

No way should you throw away $400-$300

gforaker

Except aggst1 has an R500, that is a V8. I think it has 2 plugs per cylinder for 16 plugs which cost over $20 each.

I would agree that the 5 year time span is BS. The only part which may degrade in time with heat and fumes might be the spark plug wiring cables. But not so likely. Even the 78k miles figure sounds very conservative. Changing spark plugs is one maintenance item you can put off without risking permanent harm to the engine. No harm in waiting until performance or fuel mileage starts to drop a little. Obviously, if you waited until there was severe misfiring it might not be good for the engine. You would certainly notice it before then. Maybe plan on 100k at the latest. I would bet you don't notice any performance or mileage hit before then.

aggst1

I had the spark plugs changed since I had the car at the dealer already. They ended up charging me $216 for labor and $140 for the 16 plugs ($8.75 a piece) so the total for plugs was $356 plus tax and not the full $430 they quoted originally. I was told that the five year plug change is necessary in order to ensure optimum engine performance. Plugs start corroding after that interval, and sometimes even before. Probably explains why I have experienced a few hard starts on cold mornings (not very prolonged however).

Definitely, plugs is something that one can do himself if he has right tools (don't have torque wrench for example), easy access to the plugs (1/2 of the motor is hidden in the back), and also one needs to have time (a couple of hours tops). I don't have any of the above, and the days that I worked on my own cars are long gone.

gforaker

Good price for the plugs. Someone else on these forums quoted the dealer cost of over $20 per plug. Since you had hard starting, that was a good call.

Nickwong1112

I have a 2006 R500. I am looking into changing the spark plugs next weekend. I have over 100,000 miles and figure it is probably time to replace the spark plug. The dealer near by wanted to charge close to $500 for doing the job. I wanted to ask if anyone know the correct torque for putting these spark plug on?

lkchris

They do, and they're shown in factory procedures. (That's the service DVD to you.)

lkchris

You'll only achieve correct torque if you do NOT grease the threads, i.e. use antiseize. This is prohibited by Mercedes, Bosch, everyone.

Torque figure is 28 newton meters.

Or, you can do it like this: http://www.boschautoparts.com/Techni...ningTorque.pdf

Nickwong1112

Thanks to everyone for the advise... One last stupid question...could the special angle tool be purchased in advance autopart or O'Reiley auto part places? If not where about I can get the tool? I removed the filters housing and looked... I agree that it is very tight around the spark plugs access area...

Benzo 003

eBay !

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Merce...motiveQ5fTools

Nickwong1112

Great! I emailed the seller with regarding to this tool. It said spark plug wire removal.. I am not sure if he meant spark plug... The head looked like for the spark plugs..Anymore insights from anybody with regarding this tool will be greatly appreciated.. I have also removed the air filter housing and video recorded the spark plug access area and posted on YouTube.. I will include the links in posting later, hopefully will be helpful to anyone..

ohlord

the special 17mm spark plug boot removal tool.
It is for popping off the metal collared boots on the spark plugs.
Then you remove the plugs with a 16mm thin walled spark socket or 5/8 spark socket.
The best socket is the one with the spring loaded u joint swivel built in.
East diy if you follow directions

dewdaltz

do you guys use the OEM spark plugs OR you want to experience the "new" ones.

lextoyo

did you use any special tool to take the spark plugs out? and how many are I guess 6 right ?


thanks

vwfreak

For the R350 it is just 6 spark plugs. No special tools are needed Just a torx driver and spark plug socket. Very simple on the R350

mercedes4ever

Make sure you blow out the spark plug holes before plug removal. This stops any crap entering the combustion chamber.

Yu Chem

It cost me $325 + tax to replace 6 plugs on R350 in Canada.
They charged $16 per plug and 1.8 hr work.