Nasco12
Active Member
I bought my 1999 W202 in order to save money.
OK, you can stop laughing now. I was wrong about that but I still reckon the long-run costs will not be vastly greater than those of a second-hand Golf. But if they are to be kept down I'm going to have to do a lot of the maintenance work myself. Which I've never done before.
A few weeks ago I amazed myself by changing the oil. So, it was time for the spark plugs.
I drove along to the nearest self-service garage (I'm sorry I'm not going to give the name because the last time I did that I was accused of advertising. But if you want to know it's mentioned here.) Now, this was probably unnecessary as actually what you want to start off with is a cool engine so the first hour was spent just letting the engine cool down.
However, they did have the kit eg socket set, spark plug sockets, that I needed so on this occasion, at least, it was a must.
First, remove the gubbins from the air filter.
No.
First, disconnect the battery and make sure the key is out of the ignition. Actually, this is easier said than done. I found disconnecting the battery required two, count them, 13mm spanners.
Now, remove the gubbins from the air filter. My abiding rule when it comes to this stuff is: be gentle. No matter how tempting it may be, only use brute force when you have exhausted all the other alternatives. Stuff is designed to go in and come out with tools or hands so it probably will. The hard part here was removing the hose from the top of the engine and working out which way it all slid out.
Remove the cam cover. Easy peasy.
Remove the HT coils or whatever they are called. Now, I've noticed with descriptions of HT leads you are always told to be careful because it is easy to get them mixed up and if you do you are in a lot of trouble. Maybe, but in this case on this car I just don't see how you can go wrong. From what I can work out there is only one way the coils can go in.
Up to this point I had been taking photos as an aide memoire just in case but from this point on there didn't seem to be much point. Oh, and my hands were getting dirty.
Remove the old spark plugs. Easy peasy. At this point you are always told to inspect them. I had white, brown and black/grey. But mostly brown which I hope is good news.
Put the new ones in. NGK iridiums. NGK to show that I am not a slave to MB. Iridiums out of curiosity. Smear them with copper grease and screw them. Easy peasy.
Except that it wasn't. 1 and 3 (counting from the grille) were easy. 2 and 4 took ages. Now I was using a standard socket extension when perhaps I should have been using a spark plug wrench with the flexible end. But even so. I found I could turn as much as I liked but every revolution I'd get that familiar clunk as the plug failed to engage. I was really beginning to get nervous. At one point I even had a go at putting the old plugs back. That didn't work either.
I sat down for 5 minutes imagining what a right charlie I'd look when the trailer pulled up at the MB dealership and had another go. I stood at the front of the vehicle (rather than the side) and the two recalcitrant plugs went in first time. Phew.
I put everthing back, reconnected the battery - is it supposed to spark when you do that? - and turned the key in the ignition. The engine started first time. Now I know what it feels like to win a World Cup.
So, does it make any noticeable difference? I think it does. The engine does seem smoother on idle. And there's also the sense of security.
All in all, it took me 3.5 hours. Take off the first one that leaves 2.5 or 150 mins. So, I can change a spark plug at the rate of one every 37.5 mins. I see from the thread that the other day Olly changed 16 in 22 minutes. Which means Olly is about 30 times better than me.
But I bet he didn't feel like Marco Tardelli.
OK, you can stop laughing now. I was wrong about that but I still reckon the long-run costs will not be vastly greater than those of a second-hand Golf. But if they are to be kept down I'm going to have to do a lot of the maintenance work myself. Which I've never done before.
A few weeks ago I amazed myself by changing the oil. So, it was time for the spark plugs.
I drove along to the nearest self-service garage (I'm sorry I'm not going to give the name because the last time I did that I was accused of advertising. But if you want to know it's mentioned here.) Now, this was probably unnecessary as actually what you want to start off with is a cool engine so the first hour was spent just letting the engine cool down.
However, they did have the kit eg socket set, spark plug sockets, that I needed so on this occasion, at least, it was a must.
First, remove the gubbins from the air filter.
No.
First, disconnect the battery and make sure the key is out of the ignition. Actually, this is easier said than done. I found disconnecting the battery required two, count them, 13mm spanners.
Now, remove the gubbins from the air filter. My abiding rule when it comes to this stuff is: be gentle. No matter how tempting it may be, only use brute force when you have exhausted all the other alternatives. Stuff is designed to go in and come out with tools or hands so it probably will. The hard part here was removing the hose from the top of the engine and working out which way it all slid out.
Remove the cam cover. Easy peasy.
Remove the HT coils or whatever they are called. Now, I've noticed with descriptions of HT leads you are always told to be careful because it is easy to get them mixed up and if you do you are in a lot of trouble. Maybe, but in this case on this car I just don't see how you can go wrong. From what I can work out there is only one way the coils can go in.
Up to this point I had been taking photos as an aide memoire just in case but from this point on there didn't seem to be much point. Oh, and my hands were getting dirty.
Remove the old spark plugs. Easy peasy. At this point you are always told to inspect them. I had white, brown and black/grey. But mostly brown which I hope is good news.
Put the new ones in. NGK iridiums. NGK to show that I am not a slave to MB. Iridiums out of curiosity. Smear them with copper grease and screw them. Easy peasy.
Except that it wasn't. 1 and 3 (counting from the grille) were easy. 2 and 4 took ages. Now I was using a standard socket extension when perhaps I should have been using a spark plug wrench with the flexible end. But even so. I found I could turn as much as I liked but every revolution I'd get that familiar clunk as the plug failed to engage. I was really beginning to get nervous. At one point I even had a go at putting the old plugs back. That didn't work either.
I sat down for 5 minutes imagining what a right charlie I'd look when the trailer pulled up at the MB dealership and had another go. I stood at the front of the vehicle (rather than the side) and the two recalcitrant plugs went in first time. Phew.
I put everthing back, reconnected the battery - is it supposed to spark when you do that? - and turned the key in the ignition. The engine started first time. Now I know what it feels like to win a World Cup.
So, does it make any noticeable difference? I think it does. The engine does seem smoother on idle. And there's also the sense of security.
All in all, it took me 3.5 hours. Take off the first one that leaves 2.5 or 150 mins. So, I can change a spark plug at the rate of one every 37.5 mins. I see from the thread that the other day Olly changed 16 in 22 minutes. Which means Olly is about 30 times better than me.
But I bet he didn't feel like Marco Tardelli.
And building up a nice set of tools is always nice. I love buying a new tool every now and then to do a certain job knowing that it has cost me a lot less to buy the tool than it would cost to get a garage to do the job. And i have the tool sat there for the next time too
