The way I understand the spark cycle of the wasted spark you guys are talking about if on plug is not connected the spark would not occur. Ford for instance if one spark plug is not connected then both do not fire. This is not the case with the mercedes. Either plug will fire with the other disconnected. The spark arcs to ground, which is the engine. Thus there is no way that the spark is coming back from ground into the opposite plug. I have done many a diagnostic on the m104 system. In fact if you create enough gap on one plug to pull more load to that plug the computer will think that the misfire is the wrong cylinder. Thus a bad plug wire can cause a misfire on the opposite cylinder.