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  #16  
Old 02-24-2004, 09:44 PM
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I usually dump the oil every 3000 miles religiously. Lately I have been leaking a lot through the front seal, and I would attribute that the the detergent action of the semi synthetic oil. Normally, I wouldn't care too much about the leaking, but it is making a mess of the driveway. The semi-synthetic might give me a cleaner engine, but I think the normal oil should work just fine.

I do like to drive the engine hard, but the cooling is working fine so that should not be too much of an issue. I recently replaced the fan clutch on the main fan (after it through a blade thanks to a nick in the aluminum and a seized clutch). My auxillary fan also works fine. I might go back to semi synthetic for summer driving, but I don't think it will make much of a difference.

I did put a new tank of gas in the car, and the plugs have not fouled yet. Of course I have been leaning the injector pump a bit to get a cleaner burn. I think that my problem was probably the gas, but the locals don't seem to believe it.

What do you guys think of Castrol GTX? It came highly recommended by my auto parts guys.

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  #17  
Old 02-25-2004, 12:39 PM
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Just finished installing fresh W7DC plugs and solid core wires in my 280SE 4.5. It had Bosch Platinums (resistors) and the wires appeared original although they were unmarked. The old plugs appeared on the verge of fouling and I suspect I am a bit rich. My query -- should I notice any immediate difference? The car was running well and I just did this, um, I guess, because I thought I should?! Have read the info here about the unsuitability of the platinums, particularly of the resistor type.

While I had the battery out I also cleaned the ground for the injectors. Again, not to fix a problem but it just seemed proper. Have some other items to address beyond the possible rich running such as the lack of kickdown. Have reviewed all pertinent threads and will crawl under to check the mechanism, modulator, etc. Really dunno my gas mileage since the odo takes a break now and then and I cannot predict when it will function.

BTW, fitting the plastic looms back over the plug wires was a PITA in the brisk wind outside
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  #18  
Old 02-25-2004, 04:03 PM
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Plastic looms over the plug wires?

Your spark plug connectors and boots should look like this, if they don't, they need to be replaced with the proper resistor-value ones!


Value: 1K ohm resistance


Value: 1K ohm resistance

They may look different (mine were black/brass or black/stainless on the ones I have now) but the resistor values must be clearly indicated...

If they look like these, they're wrong (even though this is what the worldpac distributors sell, they have the wrong dizzy-cap connectors).
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  #19  
Old 02-25-2004, 04:10 PM
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Tom, I was just referencing the large organizer-type item which was on each side of my engine block and surrounded the plug wires between the dist cap and the wire holder on the top of each valve cover. I have the correct wires with resistors at either end, thanks.
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  #20  
Old 02-25-2004, 07:02 PM
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I'll start this reply first by admitting that I am a stubborn person. I went ahead and purchased the Bosch Platinum plugs (WR7DP)for my car. You're thinking that I'm going to admit defeat, aren't you? Well, they work! In fact, the engine is smoother idling than it ever was with my original Bosch Supers. My wire set is the Beru wires that Fast lane sells because I couldn't get the Bosch set with the right angle plug to work at all.


The caps of this wire set do have 5K resistance. This is stamped on the casing, I have not measured it myself.

After installing the spark plugs, I went after my rich running problem per the vacuum guage method in the Chilton's book. I found that the injection pump control rod was not in the idle stop when the accelerator was at idle. I lengthened the control rod so that the injector pump is at the idle stop when the accelerator linkage is at idle. I then adjusted the idle speed screw on the intake manifold for maximum RPM at maximum vacuum. The procedure then said to adjust the injection pump leaning screw until RPM dropped to normal. The screw free-wheels unless I pushed it in. It felt like I was enguaging some kind of cam to turn something internally. However, I cannot guarantee that I actually turned anything since it felt like I was enguaging and then slipping off. In other words, I don't think that I can get it any leaner that way. So I then set the idle adjust screw to get the idle speed to 900 RPM per my shop manual. The mixture would appear to be leaner now because the injector pump would have had to have been injecting excess gas with the its control linkage advanced ahead of the throttle body. I guess I will have to monitor the color of the exhaust t determine how lean the mixture is. It is not blowing smoke like it was and the idle is smoother, so the mixture must now be close to correct.

I may end up eating my words about the spark plugs tomorrow morning when I try to start it from cold, but I doubt it. The way it is running the plugs are not missing a single spark. I have much more power and a smoother run. The design of the platinum plugs feature a long insulator, thus a hotter plug, so they should not foul. The local mechanics all said that if you have fouling problems, then go to platinum. I also doubt that the resistance will make any difference since at the voltages these plugs operate at, voltage drop across a 5K resistor is negligable.

Like I said, I may be wrong, but either way I will report over the next few days as to how the car is running. If anyone wants to try platinum's, Bosch has a 60 cent per plug rebate right now, and the certificates are only available on the Bosch website.
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  #21  
Old 02-26-2004, 07:36 PM
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Well, if they work for you, that's good! Do you have a hotter coil? It may start to miss under load, or be hard to start cold, or give very cruddy mileage... but if you don't have any of those symptoms in a month or two, keep the platinums!

Those wires there are the right set it looks like - you can tell, they have the 1-piece dizzy cap connectors (not the crimp piece and a boot, but the screw-on boot).


edit: Whoops, forgot you weren't talking about the 4.5 (removed control rod stuff)
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  #22  
Old 02-26-2004, 08:50 PM
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Quote:
Originally posted by kpb
Just finished installing fresh W7DC plugs and solid core wires in my 280SE 4.5. It had Bosch Platinums (resistors) and the wires appeared original although they were unmarked. The old plugs appeared on the verge of fouling and I suspect I am a bit rich. My query -- should I notice any immediate difference? The car was running well and I just did this, um, I guess, because I thought I should?! Have read the info here about the unsuitability of the platinums, particularly of the resistor type.

ive done several cars (rx7's) with aftermarket computers (haltechs, we are actually a dealer), and you cant always feel small changes in mixture. usually you can feel the extremes, but not so much the middle area. leaner it might feel crisper, until it will start to buck (v8 prolly wont do this), or get flat spots.

mike
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  #23  
Old 02-26-2004, 10:01 PM
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Quote:
Do you have a hotter coil?
No, the ignition had the transistorized ignition originally, but the previous owner converted it over to the standard igintion when the switchbox failed. It has the correct coil for standard ignition.

I think the platimums are going to work fine. I've had a cold weather start with the cold start valve coming on. I also had the car up to 100 MPH on the interstate for a test run, so I would say that is under load. I would have puched it further, but there's always other traffic and the state patrol.

I will see how well they work, but I think you can use platinums in these cars, at least the straight six. I've also discussed the resistor pulg issue with an electrical engineer friend (who owns a '65 Mercedes by the way) and he says that the voltage drop across 5K of resistance at these voltages is negligable. The platinums look like hotter spark plugs anyway.
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  #24  
Old 02-27-2004, 10:56 AM
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Just a fews thoughts for the mechanical fuel injection. The center adjustment screw just impacts idle and very low rpm running. There are other ways to adjust the overall fuel mixture of the pump and the partial load and full load fuel mixtures but from the sounds of it you don't need it. Adjusting the control rack to return to the idle stop was critical and a good catch. As far as platinum plugs, I have run the single tip and +4s as applicable in 116 (iron and alu), 117, 102 and 103 motor vehicles and haven't had a single plug problem (all breakerless ignition). The single tips worked great in the 116 and 117 motors for 25K miles and the +4s would do 50K. I guess I have been lucky so far. My $02 worth--preferences in spark plugs, like oil brands and types, seem to be a combination of advertising hype, personal experience (bad experiences outweigh good experiences by many orders of magnitude) and recommendations from those in the know. I try not to have a closed mind about these things but only with sporadic success. Probably best to stick with quality products and not jump brands or types of most products.

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