E280 Spark Plugs

[GaryK]

I recently had a Type B service at a local independent, i asked him to check out all diagnostics as there is an intermittent problem of mis-firing on the first run after several hours of standstill.

Indie carried out service and reported no faults from diagnostic check.

Fault reappeared today so i had the local guy we use for company vehicles take a look, he first went to check the spark plugs and was suprised to find there were two he could not remove?

Question is, shouldn't the indie have changed the plugs during the service and also any ideas how I could remove the stubborn plugs?

E280, 2001, 80,000 miles

Thanks in advance.

Gary

 

[television]

Sparking plugs are replaced at certain intervals in the services and are not changed at every service. they are changed after X amount of miles.

Malcolm

 

[jberks]

Plugs should be changed at 60k / 5 years so yes they should have been swapped, especially given that you have a misfire. However, if they've been in for a year or two, that is perfectly normal.

They are a bugger to get at, and they may not want to come out, but that's the job of a mechanic!

My experience of misfires on this engine have been down to plug leads every time, but as it's twin spark, the diagnosis is down to whether it is a complete loss of 1 cylinder or just a lumpy idle. Clearly if a cylinder is down, it's unlikely to be the leads and I'd be looking at coil packs.