SL55 AMG spark plug change
- Thread starter zoros
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You cannot be serious!
I have purchased one for £4.95. The you tube video shows a special MB tool for $10.
And someone on here did it using a 17mm spanner.
Are you unbalanced buying something to do the same for this sort of money or what??????
I have purchased one for £4.95. The you tube video shows a special MB tool for $10.
And someone on here did it using a 17mm spanner.
Are you unbalanced buying something to do the same for this sort of money or what??????
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A discussion on changing spark plugs is quite frankly a waste of time - getting it done takes less effort.
Use what you want, even your bare hands. Nobody's twisting your arm to buy anything.
Just do it, dammit.
Don't get "fired up" Alex.
All I said was someone splashing out this much on a device like this, isn't "firing on all cylinders".
Don't need to get "fouled up" in all of this.
There's obviously a "gap" in the market for such a device but not at any price.
My thread is designed to "spark" suggestions.
I'll "unplug" now.......and just "do it, dammit".
All I said was someone splashing out this much on a device like this, isn't "firing on all cylinders".
Don't need to get "fouled up" in all of this.
There's obviously a "gap" in the market for such a device but not at any price.
My thread is designed to "spark" suggestions.
I'll "unplug" now.......and just "do it, dammit".
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brucemillar
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They are expensive. But then, they are quality. You can buy a car for a few bob or more than a house. But it is a car.
As a lover of all things tools. I would never mock. If offered (go on) I would have these in my toolbox without blinking an eye, or using them as “nipple clamps”
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Compared to what you usually pay in labour, buying quality tools to do the job yourself is usually a good investment 
£40 is what, about 15 minutes labour at a main dealer? You could always sell them on afterwards if you had no intention of using them for 10 years.
I never regret paying good money for quality items, but hate wasting cash on cheap rubbish that breaks the first time you use it.
Nothing worse than starting a job that you can’t finish due to not having the right tool, or being let down by a cheapskate one.
Skinned knuckles, swearing or damaged leads are quite possible from using the wrong tool in this case
Good luck
£40 is what, about 15 minutes labour at a main dealer? You could always sell them on afterwards if you had no intention of using them for 10 years.
I never regret paying good money for quality items, but hate wasting cash on cheap rubbish that breaks the first time you use it.
Nothing worse than starting a job that you can’t finish due to not having the right tool, or being let down by a cheapskate one.
Skinned knuckles, swearing or damaged leads are quite possible from using the wrong tool in this case
Good luck
brucemillar
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Compared to what you usually pay in labour, buying quality tools to do the job yourself is usually a good investment
£40 is what, about 15 minutes labour at a main dealer? You could always sell them on afterwards if you had no intention of using them for 10 years.
I never regret paying good money for quality items, but hate wasting cash on cheap rubbish that breaks the first time you use it.
Nothing worse than starting a job that you can’t finish due to not having the right tool, or being let down by a cheapskate one.
Skinned knuckles, swearing or damaged leads are quite possible from using the wrong tool in this case
Good luck
A good point well made.
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Bear in mind the cost of replacing plug leads, circa £80 for each one you damage
I don't disagree with the caveat that a quality tool is worth its weight in gold - of course it is but this isnt the case here is it? Stay focussed.
An "implement" is needed to pull the plug lead off the plug in a confined space. Its not rocket science and a tyre lever would be used if it fitted the available space. As mentioned earlier, someone used a 17mm spanner= now thats improvisation and as someone else said, even the MB 'special tool' is a bent 17mm spanner FFS!
Talking about buying a nuclear tipped laser guided thingamegig to do the job of a can opener is folly and suggests the operator has more money than sense. ESPECIALLY when this thingamegig will in all probability be used once in the life time of that car.
As for markmifsud suggesting £80/lead (£1280) errrm try again Mark!
Intermotor Ignition Cable Lead Set 83082 - BRAND NEW - GENUINE - 5 YEAR WARRANTY | eBay
An "implement" is needed to pull the plug lead off the plug in a confined space. Its not rocket science and a tyre lever would be used if it fitted the available space. As mentioned earlier, someone used a 17mm spanner= now thats improvisation and as someone else said, even the MB 'special tool' is a bent 17mm spanner FFS!
Talking about buying a nuclear tipped laser guided thingamegig to do the job of a can opener is folly and suggests the operator has more money than sense. ESPECIALLY when this thingamegig will in all probability be used once in the life time of that car.
As for markmifsud suggesting £80/lead (£1280) errrm try again Mark!
Intermotor Ignition Cable Lead Set 83082 - BRAND NEW - GENUINE - 5 YEAR WARRANTY | eBay
Task complete.
Out of 10 where 1 is dead easy and 10 is nigh on impossible, it's a 3.
Filters came off quickly.
Removed the 8 coil packs and cleaned them up.
Of note: A 17mm open ended run of the mill spanner popped each of the plug caps off very easily indeed. So my £5 special tool was a waste of time and thank god I didnt buy the rolls royce version!!!
The only additional item I had to buy was a "thin walled 16mm plug socket" (£4.95).
Everything went back perfectly and the plugs are all behaving themselves. But they did need changing.
I dropped my number 25 torque bit into the bowels of the engine bay at one stage!! But previously I had bought a magnetic flexible stalk and this fished it out easily!
Dont forget to label the plug leads coming off the coil pack before you forget!!!
Cost:
16 x plugs: £128. NGK Iridium.
1 x plug lead remover: £5 (not needed).
1 x 16mm socket: £5.
TOTAL: £118.
Time: I'm guessing (because I cleaned both cylinder head covers while they were exposed): 1hr each side.
No knuckle damage either.
Out of 10 where 1 is dead easy and 10 is nigh on impossible, it's a 3.
Filters came off quickly.
Removed the 8 coil packs and cleaned them up.
Of note: A 17mm open ended run of the mill spanner popped each of the plug caps off very easily indeed. So my £5 special tool was a waste of time and thank god I didnt buy the rolls royce version!!!
The only additional item I had to buy was a "thin walled 16mm plug socket" (£4.95).
Everything went back perfectly and the plugs are all behaving themselves. But they did need changing.
I dropped my number 25 torque bit into the bowels of the engine bay at one stage!! But previously I had bought a magnetic flexible stalk and this fished it out easily!
Dont forget to label the plug leads coming off the coil pack before you forget!!!
Cost:
16 x plugs: £128. NGK Iridium.
1 x plug lead remover: £5 (not needed).
1 x 16mm socket: £5.
TOTAL: £118.
Time: I'm guessing (because I cleaned both cylinder head covers while they were exposed): 1hr each side.
No knuckle damage either.
rockits
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I'd always buy a quality item but there is always a line. The line often being a tool that will last day in day out for a full time professional against someone doing it once or twice a year.
I have no issue buying a cheaper tool that will still often outlast me as it would get used a dozen times or so in my lifetime when less stress is on the tool. For a tool that could cause considerable danger, stress, damage or hassle I'd always spend a few quid more.
Sometimes more expensive or over engineered doesn't always men better.
Remember when the American's reportedly spent millions of dollars engineering a solution to making a pen that could write in space. The Russians solution.......a pencil!!
I have no issue buying a cheaper tool that will still often outlast me as it would get used a dozen times or so in my lifetime when less stress is on the tool. For a tool that could cause considerable danger, stress, damage or hassle I'd always spend a few quid more.
Sometimes more expensive or over engineered doesn't always men better.
Remember when the American's reportedly spent millions of dollars engineering a solution to making a pen that could write in space. The Russians solution.......a pencil!!
rockits
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Just a general point about tools in general and not 100% fixated on the specific tool in question. I tend to allow myself and others a little drift in the thread when relevent. For example I wouldn't spend a fiver on a pair of axle stands to stick a 2 ton car above my head!
Sorry, I'll stick specifically to the exact thread next time [emoji6]
popuptoaster
Active Member
Not true and never was I'm afraid, it's an urban legend.
NASA used propelling pencils right at the start of the space race as did many engineers but there was an outcry due to the cost of them (Over $100 each back in the mid 60's!) they also had issues with bits of the graphite coming loose and floating around the cabin where it could get into sensitive electronics and short them out or get into an astronauts eye, it's also flammable.
The Fisher Pen Company invested a million dollars of it's own money into making a pressurised pen which was sold to both the USA and the Russians (still is as far as I'm aware?), they both get them at half price (ish) for bulk buying but they are available to the public as well, they are not expensive as far as "premium" pens go.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0015ZP2AC/?tag=amazon0e9db-21
