SeaRay45DB

Engine with Manifold removed
I post this information becasue of frustration of when I went to do this on my E, all the video's were tagged to the 276 engine, but most people did not know that 350 engine changed in 2012. I read a lot of confused and frustrated threads of people trying to remove the rear cover, with people trying to be helpful by saying, "mine just lifts up". It does, but starting in 2012, that rear cover is now the manifold. Others helped by saying the dealer was ripping them off, in reality, the procedure is a real PITA, so the hourly cost certainly did go up. As I write this, am just finishing, and am validating the sequential torquing of the plugs, so I don't blow the car up I guess. But hopefully this will help.

Places like All Data have nice pictures....of the wrong engines. There is a gentlemen in the SLK section who did a really nice pointing on how to do this, but he left his manifold cover on, and it's hard to see things. If I can figure out who he is, I will certainly give him credit for his work.

Bottom line, you will save money if you do this yourself. It's not hard, you just have to plan your time. Also, DO NOT GO PAST the TIME MARK. If you do, you many never get the plugs out.

Tools you will need.

You will need a super special hose clamp tool. Without this tool, you will break the clamps at the throttle body. With the tool, you can clamp and unclamp all day long. It's $12 bucks.
Dialect Grease MB has a service advisory you must use it. It's like a no brainer, as it totally sucks trying to pull the wires off, it's almost impossible. MB says you have to use there's. I used Permatex.
14mm 12 Point Socket. A regular socket will not work. These plugs, now used by BMW, Mazda and others, do not have the 5 point bolt not them. They are $10 on Amazon.
I used Bosh plugs. Same as Factory, just does not have the STAR on them for half the price.

Darel

Holy crap this is incredible. One question, do you have a link for the clamp tool? I don't see it in the writeup, or the use of it, either.

This is really excellent, guys like me who do our own service thank you. We need a lot more of this around here.

D

VegasE

Well done and thank you. What a PIA! I was planning to DIY but am now convinced to take mine to an indy shop

SeaRay45DB

Sorry, I thought I put the link for the tool. My bad. Good help is hard to find.

SeaRay45DB

Here are the directions on how to do the plug change withOUT removing the manifold. You can do it this way. I actaully just put everything back together, have a whole bunch of codes for throttle position, I am a glutton for punishment, but this is how I learn.

reyes007

dacia

The only issue with his way, awesome write up by the way, is that he didn't replace the manifold gaskets.
Did you replace them?
Did you clear the codes and did they come back?


What do you mean by this?
You mean the suggested service interval should be closely followed?
On a 2014 E350 with the 276 engine it's 6 years or 60K miles.

Also could you explain this:
thanks.