Hello all, my 2013 E-350 just turned 69K miles. It runs and drives beautifully. The garage where I have it serviced yearly recommends that I do not need to have the spark plugs changed or the B service items done until my mileage reaches 100K. The service manager said we don’t replace anything that doesn’t need replacing unlike the dealership. They have been in business for over 30yrs and has a excellent reputation in the community. My question is should I have the B service done now for $$$$ or wait until I reach 100K ?

 

on my 2016 E350, it says 'every 50k or 5 years' to replace spark plugs. this is not part of the B service, its a separate line item. B service is every 2 years or 20k miles.

 

The concept of time or mileage based maintenance is to maintain what you call as : It runs and drives beautifully.
It is partly preventive maintenance.

If one wait for : It runs and drives NO MORE beautifully. That is corrective repair already.
Have your car ever done tranny fluid and filter ( and gasket + all torx bolts ) replacement ?
Don't push your spark plugs passed recommended interval / life. I am amazed it can do 69K miles already.
On M271 EVO engine at 44K miles of a friend, the electrodes are like almost gone 90% ish.

Removing spark-plug out of its bore has some good too, it prevent seizure as one can inspect and clean the threads.


In this W212 section there is a sticky for all services class.

 

yeah, I had a Ford van with the 5.4L V8 Triton motor, supposedly 100K mile spark plugs. asked a Ford mechanic about that, and he said if you go 100K odds are you'll rip the trheads out of the head removing them.

 

With that engine ya will probably rip the plug threads out regardless of 50k or 100k miles, maybe even 20k or 10k. Luck of a draw on that thing.

 

Best part of the Econoline was having to drop the engine to get to some of the plugs

 

Lucky me had '04 f250 so was able to manage, took entire afternoon but could manage.

 

I have a 02 F250, but it is a diesel. 🤪

 

Nice truck, went cummins then back to ford for 6.0 which was hell for first month, then back to cummins.

Off topic but the 04 f250 was actually great truck other then that engine, traded at 96k miles. The 03 with 6.0 was actually a great truck besides the 6.0 but I got it squared away right before I traded it in. The 6.0 was actually a fun engine once it was running good, traded it at 186k miles. My first cummins a '12 traded at 36k miles, my second still own a 14' has 165k miles. Its a good truck but the E250 is the commuter vehicle now.

The 7.3 would have been nice/better then the 6.0.

 

My F250 is the 7.3 powerstroke, which is the Navistar T444E, rock solid engine, goes a million miles with routine service. Only 250 horses, but gobs of torque (525 ft lbs).

 

The manufacturer, who designed vehicle, recommends major service @60k miles: spark plugs, transmission oil, and air filters (cabin/engine), etc.

You paid @$50K+ for your vehicle, depending on options, and you are going to bet its maintenance on the word of somebody self-proclaimed expert on an engineered device he had not contribution to it?

it is your car, be my guest, but when the car is no longer driving beautifully or worse I hope the mechanic will step to the plate and help you fix it.

The 2013 E350 uses the M276 engine which has a few glitches: chain tensioner and oil check valve on early serial numbers, oil seeping through camshaft sensors, and camshaft adjusters if the first issue was not addressed earlier. Did the mechanic highlighted that for you? Checked your VIN to see if the engine falls into the early group?

just be careful

 

Plugs are important, and easy. Do plugs, air filter, oil change, trans service, cabin filter, pad slap, brake flush, and diff drain and fill.

 

Not to mix apples with oranges, but the engines are similar...

The Maintenance schedule for my family's 2001 C320 says replace plugs at 100,000 miles. This is the M112 3.2L V6 with 12 plugs. Reading the threads on the W203 forum, it's not uncommon to see owners driving well past 100,000 miles on a set of plugs without any problems whatever... https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w...00k-miles.html

I gave the car to my live-at-home daughter at 95K miles, and she now has 165,000 miles on it. She can't be without the car long enough for anyone to change the plugs, not that they are easy to change DIY (they aren't). In view of the potential plug thread seizure issue, a decision to procrastinate on a vehicle now worth a mere $450 is easy to make. Especially since the engine still runs great. So the car is worth more to keep it running as is, than to gamble and possibly junk it in the middle of a plug change gone bad. So, I don't think this car will ever see a plug change.

All that noted... I don't think I will wait so long to change plugs on my W212. But at 7 years and 40,000 miles to date, I'm not in any real hurry, either.

 

Not to argue, but M112 is 12 plugs, right? M272 is 6, and so is M276. MB botched the M272 first batch, and nearly botched the M276. M112 is known to be bulletproof, so distant cousins I would say.

MB service for M272 plugs is @100K miles. I did sister's W211 @150K+. Was the engine running bad? Not for her, but I was not convinced it was smooth enough. The gap was huge, way off specs, and after the new plugs the engine is now extremely smooth (even with intake manifold issue), then she did not notice the difference. This car has only a single code, manifold lever broken.