Replacing spark plugs on a Mercedes McLaren SLR

[blindside.AMG]

Yeah, so I'm sitting at work right now waiting for my roommate to get done with his work so we can go home. I was screwing around on our Mercedes Benz diagnostic manual and stumbled across the work instructions on how to change spark plugs on the new SLR. Thought you guys might find it interesting. Seems pretty easy to me.

Replace Spark Plugs

I. Remove Engine
1. Disconnect ground cable from battery
2. Disconnect main cable harness from engine wiring harness
3. Raise vehicle
4. Remove bottom engine compartment panelling
5. Remove tunnel covering
6. Drain coolant
7. Drain oil
8. Drain automatic transmission fluid
9. Remove air cleaner housing
10. Remove fan
11. Separate coolant lines (1,2) from charge air cooler
12. Remove rear muffler
13. Separate oil feed and return line of oil tank
14. Separate lines of crankcase ventilation system from fitting of oil tank
15. Remove oil lines to oil cooler
16. Detach shift rod at transmission
17. Unbolt ground strap at transmission
18. Disconnect electrical connections at generator
19. Disconnect electrical connections at starter
20. Disconnect 13-pin plug socket from automatic transmission
21. Detach fuel lines
22. Extract oil of power steering pump
23. Disconnect ground line at power steering pump
24. Detach return flow and pressure lines of power steering pump
25. Evacuate fluid of A/C system
26. Open refrigerant lines connection at condenser
27. Separate connection of A/C system at distributor unit
28. Open connection of coolant return line
29. Separate automatic oil line from automatic oil cooler
30. Place engine supporting device underneath and align
31. Remove rear engine mount
32. Remove propeller shaft
33. Place the transmission jack underneath the rear axle center assembly
34. Detach steering shaft with universal joint at steering gear
35. Unscrew bolts from engine support bearing
36. Lower drive unit
37. Disconnect heater hose at firewall
38. Disconnect connection line of activated charcoal canister from compressor
39. Slowly lower the drive unit and guide it out of vehicle
40. Detach automatic transmission from engine

II. Remove exhaust manifold with catalytic converter
III. Unplug spark plug connector
IV. Unscrew spark plugs
V. Install in the reverse order

[crayzayjay]

Holy Mother of God

[indyram]

Oh that's not too bad.

[Oz]

Suck shit.

[Neutrino]

Or just buy a new car.

[Moppie]

LOL!!!!

However try asking a new V6 Toyota Camry or Lexus RX330 (harrier) owner how they change thier spark plugs.
For the front 3 its pretty simple.

Remove engine cover.
Change spark plugs.

For the back three its a bit more involved.

Remove engine.
Change spark plugs.


The Current model Ford Mondeo is the same, and Iv seen an older model Jap spec Mitsubishi Daimante that looked like it had the same problem.

And its not a new problem either.
I know theres at least one generation of Corvette that requires the removal of the front body shell, and anyone crazy enough to put a V8 into a Holden Torana or Ford Capri will have to remove the engine to get to the back two plugs.



But of course I would have expected better from a Mercedes, especialy one that costs as much as the new SLR!

[SniperX13]

spark plug races anyone? let's see which team can get it done the fastest..... world record so far... is 2 days!!!

let's see who can beat it!!!

[Toksin]

Fuck, and I thought the Silvia's plugs were time consuming!

How much for the SLR plugs?

[blindside.AMG]

Originally Posted by Toksin

Fuck, and I thought the Silvia's plugs were time consuming!

How much for the SLR plugs?

Our parts department doesn't have any prices listed for the SLR. I asked them to look up brake rotors and engine heads just to see how much, but no prices were listed for anything.

And to make this job even harder, absolutely NO AIR TOOLS are allowed to be used on the SLR. And for good reason, if bolt threads on any carbon fiber component are stripped, it must be shipped to Germany (maybe England?) to be re-tapped. We can't do shit to repair them at the shop. McLaren also wants all bolts to be torqued to the inch-pound. I would have liked to be the SLR tech but that thing just seems like a huge bucket of stress.

[Moppie]

Any kind of composite material just opens up a whole new can of things to go wrong when fixing a car.

Are the Carbon fibre parts made by McLaren or Mercedes? or a 3rd party?
If done even a little bit wrong they could cause lots of trouble. If of course they get it right (and given McLarens experiance I image they will) then they should have no trouble, and the Carbon parts will out last the steel ones.
But they have to get thier fixings etc right!

[lordvektra]

Dang it, I want to know how much all that would costs done by you guys

[93rollaracer]

Sounds like a fun week-end project...well...maybe a few weekends

[KustmAce]

Like if you owned an SLR you would do that yourself...

If I could afford one of those, I wouldn't even wipe my own ass.

[94SolGrl]

hmmm... honda spark plug removal:

unscrew plug wire cover

pull plug wires

get "honda tool", ram down plug holes, remove plugs.

replace plugs.

replace wires.

screw on wire cover just as tight or loose as you like.

20 mins max...... and no, I haven't looked around the truck enough to find out what's involved... the engine of my truck is as big as my entire freakin sol was... *sigh*

[kittedb18bt]

i dunno if i believe it. thats just too crazy.