Stuck plug boot 1999 C230
 

Hi:
I was in the process of changing out the plugs on my 99 C230K. This is the M111 motor on the w202 chasis.

The job was going well....

I got the first three plugs out fine. There are two plug boots and two coil packs, on top of the other two boots.

When I removed the second coil pack, the coil pack came unplugged from the boot. On the first coil pack everything come up together.

I cannot get the sparkplug boot off the plug. I tried some gentle pulling with
pliers, but did not want to damage the boot.

Any ideas? Is there a tool that can get inside the spark plug channel?

I plugged it back in, put the cover on and everything is running fine, but I have three new plugs and one old plug.



Note: the engine was somewhat warm when I did this, not too hot too touch and work on, but not overnight stone cold either.

Thanks

Pull harder. I don't see how you can break it. It's just stuck.

the worse you can do is break plug wire if its really on there which has happened to me. try rotating the wire or give the boot a good a yank. i would put some dielectric grease on the boots so it doesnt freeze up. I do this on all my gas cars everytime i do a tune up and not a problem.

The connector in question is not a wire. I have taken one apart and I believe it is indestructable.

I've broken them before, sometimes they come out and sometimes they don't. OEM versions of the plug seem to be better but I'd guess 10-15% of the time the connector seem to bind with the spark plug for some reason.

The good news is the replacement plug is pretty inexpensive, but they should stick to begin with.

a few things come to mind, I know alot of techs use an air gun to install spark plugs which is a bad idea. Carbon build up or coolant could be freezing it through electroylsis.