Status Jan 22 2008:
Since last posting, have performed the following work to fix the problem:
- Installed a new 100 ah Exide ultra extreme battery (Instead of the 63 ah).
- Replaced 7 out of 8 sparkplugs (Beru Ultra-X). Had some challenges getting the cap off almost all the plugs. Had
big problems getting the cap off the last one
(see picture). In general it appeared that the age and state of the ignition cables were questionable. There seemed to be 2 different types of cable (see picture) and some of them were very rigid, the rest soft and flexible. The red ones bore the MB emblem and sparepart id, the black ones did not. I cleaned the 7 caps with contact cleaner, before applying them to the spark plugs again.
Status: I have been
unable to reproduce the problem today
. However the weather is less moist today, than it has been the other days where problem have been apparent. Also I did not have a lot of time to play around, reproducing.
Will look for new ignition wires, to be on the safe side, and also because I will probably ruin the last cap, in my attempts at getting the last plug out....
More info will follow as work progresses.