S-class home made plug wire removal tool.

[atikovi]

Changing the plugs on my '01 S430 and it's very tight to even get to the plug wire boots. You can't pull them off with just your fingers as they are too tight and you can't get a good grip. I tried this 1/2" drive socket wrench with a 17mm crowfoot socket and it works quite well. You can easily adjust the angle of the crowfoot to get at the boots in many positions and get levarage against the valve cover.

[lee polowczuk]

could you show a picture to demostrate how and where you use the leverage off of the valve cover....

to me this is one of the toughest things to do on these cars if no one ever put dielectric grease on the plug tips....

[atikovi]

I've already put everything back together but here is the basic drill:

Remove air cleaner assembly.
Disconnect coil trigger wire connectors from coils (small wires at top).
Work on one bank at time from front to back.
Try to pull plug wires as parrallel with plug as possible.
First 2 plug wires come off easy with just slip joint pliers, then remove the attached coil.
To get to the other plug wires, unbolt coil and position coil down by manifold, now using above tool, position crows foot behind plug wire boot and leverage wrench against valve cover, with some taping and jiggling the boot should pop off. You may have to twist the boot to get it into a good position to accept the crows foot.

The whole spark plug change took me an afternoon but maybe only 2 1/2 hours actual wrench time and cost $87 for 16 of the correct stock Bosch plugs. I'm sure if I took it to the dealer I would have been charged at least $500.