Thanks for that. I was browsing through the forum looking for recommended parts suppliers, and I found auothausaz and a couple of others. Autohausaz appeared to be cheapest. They do ship to NZ, but the quote they gave for shippinig cost alone to ship to NZ was US$215.30 using UPS Worldwide Express! I've sent them an e-mail asking if they have the cheaper UPS Worwide Expedited option available. They also quoted a US Postal Service option called Global Express Mail. It was much cheaper at US$42.35 - but I am worried they might not be as reliable as UPS.
Has anyone had any experience using Global Express Mail?
I have another question about buying replacement spark plug wiring sets - they are affordable at Autohausaz - at approx US$160. I want to know whether they would be a pefect fit for my car. They list two options - one is a Bosch part, the other is a Karlyn. Has anyone tried either of these?
give me a shout about the other bits you need will hook you up with the right sites or people.
As for your running problem.
Q Are the leads in the right position in the dizzy cap. and on the right plugs at the sparky end. Dont let your tecky spray stuff onto your MAFF sensor it will screw it properly. and may well screw your O2 sensor.. run the engine warm.. and carefully remove and replace one lead at a time.. The one that makes NO difference is the one causing you trouble..take that plug out and replace it with new..dont buy expensive they are a waste of money..If that wont cure it..then check your leads at both ends look at the running order on the cap. and test with a multi meter...
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Have a BIG one.
Hi Merc600, thanks for the suggestion re eurocarparts.com. I had a quick look at their site, and the prices look to be similar to the autohausaz ones.
Eurocarparts is better in that it shows current stock leveles, but Autohausaz is better in that it shows pictures of the parts (making it easier to ensure you choose the correct part.) Also, the autohausaz site was much quicker for me that the eurocarparts site.
My car is running smoothly most of the time. In fact my rough running has only recurred once since I changed the spark plugs and cleaned the connections on the distrib caps and rotors.
I don't know if they ship to NZ, but you might contact them.
Distributor caps are US$60. Rotors are $25.
Brett
Thanks for that tip Brett. I looked around at a few other online parts suppliers, and AutohausAZ looked to be the best from what I could see. Their site worked well and when I sent them an e-mail asking questions about shipping they responded within a day with a polite and fairly informative e-mail.
So today I placed an order with them for one distributor cap, two rotors, and a spark plug wire set - for a total of US$269.08. The UPS shipping to NZ is another US$112.38 on top of that, and when it arrives in NZ, I will have to pay tax of 12.5% on top of all that.
I figure it will still end up costing me about half what I would have to pay the local MB stealer if I'd bought through them!
My parts arrived from AutoHausAZ today. They look to be the correct ones. The people at AutohausAZ were very good.
The rough running problem hasn't recurred other than the one time straight after I changed the plugs - but the weather hasn't been quite as hot on days when I have been driving.
I'll fit (with the help of my local mechanics) the new parts next week. I'm also going to swap out the NGK plugs that my local mechanics put in recently for Bosch F8DC4 plugs becuase I think the NGK plugs that they put in were the wrong ones- I don't think they had the right heat rating.
Very excited to be replacing the poorly fitting generic spark plug wire set with the new Bosch set that arrived today. They will look and fit way better. Strangely enough I was not able to order a spark plug wire set from either the MB dealer, or the local generic Bosch agents. Neither said they could source the right set for me.
After I ordered the distributor cap and rotors from AutoHausAZ I did find a local Bosch agent that could sell me both parts (not the wire set), but it turned out cheaper for me to buy them from AutoHausAZ - even with the US$111 shipping I had to pay! The local suppliers must put quite a margin on top.
I'm just pleased I found (through the very helpful people here on the forum) AutoHausAZ.
Well today we (the friendly mechanics at my local garage and I) installed the new ignition wires, distributor cap (just one because one of the existing ones was in pristine condition), distributor rotors, and 8 new Bosch F8DC4 spark plugs.
We did get all the wires connected up correctly, and they fit under the covers and through the guides properly now, which is cosmetically nice.
BUT - I now have a slightly different problem, the engine "misses" occasionally, and then runs a bit rough, most often after running for a while, (i.e. heating up to normal temp), then being left to idle for a while. Then it starts to miss and play up. Not a lot, but enough to be concerning and annoying.
The strange thing is that for the last few weeks - ever since I cleaned the old distributoor caps, and rotors, and put in the new NGK plugs, it worked fine, until yesterday - the day before I put all the new stuff in. That's when the missing started! Which is still there today, after we put the new parts in.
Which makes me think the cause of this is not related to the parts I just changed.
I'm off to the local auto electrician on Friday to check if there are any diagnostic codes coming up. There is no engine warning light showing - but I thought it would be good to check anyhow.
I'm worried that it might be the dreaded wiring harness bio-degrading issue!
Mind you, at least I can be confident that I have top quality, new, fuel filter, spark plugs, ignition wires, distributor caps and distributor rotors installed!
All suggestions as to what I should check/do next to track down and fix this problem will be much appreciated.
Just had the engine diagnostic codes checked by my local auto electrician - no codes present in the igintion or fuel injection stystems.
For some reason the snap-on analyser he was using was unable to read idle codes from the car.
I think the snap-on analyser he used only has info for US model W140s, and my Singapore model must be a bit different.
Anyway, we've pretty much run out of ideas on how to track down and fix this occassional, engine miss at idle, slight rough running problem. It seems to only happen after the car has been running for a while, and then left to idle for a while after that - like when coming in to a town after a long drive, and waiting at traffic lights. Also only seems to happen on hot days!
Any ideas anyone.
To remind you, to date I have replaced with new:
spark plugs (twice!)
distributor caps
distributor rotors
entire iginition wire set
fuel filter
and as a last desperate attempt - put injector cleaner into the fuel tank (I don't really believe in fuel tank additives being able to do anything truly useful, but am now officially clutching at straws.)
My auto-electrician thinks that if my wiring harness were degrading that I would have seen much worse problems happening.
He thinks that just maybe there is something wrong with the injectors, but there really isn't enough firm indications to warrant spending thousands on them right now!
I know that we all used to praise BOSCH as a major supplier for MB, but many bad things happened to that brand - mostly related to globalization . While BOSCH moved the production of spark plugs from Germany to Turkey causing a drop in a quality, NGK still (I guess) keep production in Germany. Please, correct me if I am wrong, but from my own experience, German mechanics say that NGK is at least as good as BOSCH in terms of spark plugs, if not better.
Quote:
Originally Posted by andrew TD
My parts arrived from AutoHausAZ today. They look to be the correct ones. The people at AutohausAZ were very good.
The rough running problem hasn't recurred other than the one time straight after I changed the plugs - but the weather hasn't been quite as hot on days when I have been driving.
I'll fit (with the help of my local mechanics) the new parts next week. I'm also going to swap out the NGK plugs that my local mechanics put in recently for Bosch F8DC4 plugs becuase I think the NGK plugs that they put in were the wrong ones- I don't think they had the right heat rating.
Very excited to be replacing the poorly fitting generic spark plug wire set with the new Bosch set that arrived today. They will look and fit way better. Strangely enough I was not able to order a spark plug wire set from either the MB dealer, or the local generic Bosch agents. Neither said they could source the right set for me.
After I ordered the distributor cap and rotors from AutoHausAZ I did find a local Bosch agent that could sell me both parts (not the wire set), but it turned out cheaper for me to buy them from AutoHausAZ - even with the US$111 shipping I had to pay! The local suppliers must put quite a margin on top.
I'm just pleased I found (through the very helpful people here on the forum) AutoHausAZ.
. While BOSCH moved the production of spark plugs from Germany to Turkey causing a drop in a quality, NGK still (I guess) keep production in Germany. Please, correct me if I am wrong, but from my own experience, German mechanics say that NGK is at least as good as BOSCH in terms of spark plugs, if not better. 
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