Boy, I am glad I had replaced all the gp's when one went at 75K. miles. I had no idea of the carbon problem. Mine were not too bad. Then again, most of the car's life has been above 55 MPH so it has been running hot and high RPM since new. By the way I use Mobil One exclusviely. Don't know if that would make a difference.

I'm using Mobil-1 too. The car has just under 80K miles, and was put into service 6/99., so stop-and-go driving has never been a factor. I've been getting great milage.

The tech at my dealer acknowledges that the car is well-maintained, with no indications of abuse.

The more I learn on this subject, the more I'm persuaded that I'm a victim of poor design.

PS Did some closer review of my service records. The original plugs were replaced under warranty in 6/01, at 44K. So, these plugs were in for ~35K miles.

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'99 E300D (US Spec), 123K