91 500SL tips for changing cap/rotor/wires?
 

Looking for any tips for changing the caps/ rotors/ wires on my 91 500SL?

Hi Jeff,

I changed mine on a 87 420, so it should be pretty similar.
I had to remove the air filter.
The wire set I bought comes with different length wires, so you want to compare them first. I then labeled them, so the long ones would go to the back.
I wrote down the order of the wires as I pulled them, as they are routed somewhat irregular (see picture)

The cap comes of after 3 screws and the rotor comes off by simply pulling it up.

I put dielectric grease on the metal connections and put the new parts in.

A spark plug wire puller helped to get into the hard to reach corners.

Hope this helps.

Reinhard Kreutzer

Reinhard,

Thanks for the response and the picture, but the 500sl is
completely different. I an concerned about getting to all the buried wires.

Thanks,
Jeff

Yes, this is a M119 motor, very different from a 420SEL (126 chassis).
Once you get the front plactic covers off the heads it looks alot easier, then you can take the strips off the top of the valve covers. The wires have a small strap on retainer on the front, it's part of the plastic piece that's under the dist caps, there is also a coil wire from the left side of the car that runs to the right cap.
The caps are each held down by 3 allen screws. Once the caps are off the plastic pieces under the caps can be removed by removing a small assortment of allen head cap screws, but I don't believe these actually need to be removed.
Not sure if your kit will even come with the coil wires.

Gilly

Gilly,

That helps ... I should be able to figure it out once i get into it.

Thanks
Jeff