Failed Beru ignition wires (plug boot failure)

[Steve119]

Hi all,

During a trip to the nurburgring my 500E developped a misfire at idle and high load. The obvious caps/rotors were not the issue, nor plugs or coils. Got home with very gently driving, but investigation was needed...

The beloved and go-to Beru ZEF635 ignition wires are arcing (at least already 2 of them), and they are only a few years old and maybe 10000km driven.

So heads-up for you all that these are not fit and forget, as I hoped.

Aaah M119 and ignition, a love story

 

[195910]

I had a bad BERU wire as well, set was 1 year old. but I also had 3or4 bad OE wires on a new set!

The manufacturers seem to forgot how to make ignition wires.

 

[timpurister]

When I took Beru wires from my e500 at least three of them were stucked. They were five years old and less than 25 000 miles.

 

[King13ls]

So would brimi wires be better than beru?

 

[gsxr]

When I took Beru wires from my e500 at least three of them were stucked. They were five years old and less than 25 000 miles.

Tim, what style plug boots were on those Beru wires? The type with the metal shell and 90° connector as shown below, or a different design?

 

[gsxr]

So would brimi wires be better than beru?

Nope. I'm not ready to give up on Beru wires, yet. Bremi is not OEM for any Mercedes ignition parts. I don't like the Bosch wires with gray insulation, they are very fragile... the gray insulation tears easily, sometimes from just pressing them into the plastic wire tray. (!!)

For the people who have had the short-term Beru failures, do you recall if the sets were made in France as shown in this thread?

Note the failure shown in the video is not the WIRES, it is the plug boot leaking / arcing.

 

[timpurister]

Dave, I am about 100% sure that the plug boot was the same as in your picture above ( I am out of town and those I left home). I decided to get hand-made leads which are a bit thicker but still was able to fit them nicely. Got the car back on the road on tuesday so can't say a lot yet.

 

[kegmankipp]

I bought the Beru set from prtafeek last year. Cable #6 starting arching 2 weeks after I installed them. I put the previous cable back in and it all worked good till a month or so ago when I was started having a random stutter. Finally got the car to act up at my mechanic buddy’s place and two more Beru cables were arching near the spark plugs.

We pulled them all out and put my old set in and so far so good.

 

[Steve119]

Ok so more people have had issues with them it appears..´ but no real alternative to buy, except for handmade or oem$$?

 

[kegmankipp]

MB Dealer told me last week that they sell the connectors separately and wire by the foot only, No pre-assembled cables kits

 

[195910]

MB Dealer told me last week that they sell the connectors separately and wire by the foot only, No pre-assembled cables kits

Its been like that for years, the OE set I bought in 2019 was not pre-assembled.. don't bother it was a waste of money

 

[Jlaa]

Its been like that for years, the OE set I bought in 2019 was not pre-assembled.. don't bother it was a waste of money

I bought a set of MB preassembled wires in late 2016 - it was the Bosch stuff in a MB box.

 

[Duh_Vinci]

Ok so more people have had issues with them it appears..´ but no real alternative to buy, except for handmade or oem$$?

For what it's worth, I've been using BREMI on our cars for years, and zero failure in any of them...

 

[Jlaa]

Maybe someone should try a set of the NGK RC-EU051 (54181) and see what the wire lengths are.



Note that the NGKs, like the MB and Beru wires, are copper.


Notice this reference in an Amazon [2015] review of the black rubber ends being marked "Beru - W Germany"

https://www.amazon.com/NGK-54181-EUC051-Spark-Plug/dp/B001RM6FKY/

 

[Jlaa]

Maybe someone should try a set of the NGK RC-EU051 (54181) and see what the wire lengths are.

View attachment 148864 View attachment 148865 View attachment 148866

Note that the NGKs, like the MB and Beru wires, are copper.


Notice this reference in an Amazon [2015] review of the black rubber ends being marked "Beru - W Germany"

https://www.amazon.com/NGK-54181-EUC051-Spark-Plug/dp/B001RM6FKY/

View attachment 148867

UPDATE - I was able to find NGK RC-EU051 (54181) on NGK's Canadian and USA websites, but it did not list wire lengths.
NGK's UK website does not list Mercedes as an applicable brand for wire-set products, nor does their Australian and Japanese website.

I was able to find reference to a M119 E500 wireset on NGK's UAE website, but the article number is different --- it is 0748 instead of 54181, or, RC-MB213 instead of RC-EU051.




You can see that the wire lengths for kit 0748 / RC-MB213 give 3 pcs 90mm, 5 pcs 98mm, one pc 60mm and one piece 110mm. This seems suboptimal relative to those suggested by @gsxr below:



That being said I have a hunch that 0748 / RC-MB213 for the UAE market is not the same as 54181 / RC-EU051 for the USA/Canadian market, so........ inconclusive.

 

[Steve119]

I bought a set of MB preassembled wires in late 2016 - it was the Bosch stuff in a MB box.

You mean Beru? I see ZEF635 on the picture?

 

[Jlaa]

You mean Beru? I see ZEF635 on the picture?

Look below my spare Beru set - you will see the box for the MB set.

 

[Steve119]

I know, but you said Bosch, and I believe they were ZEF635 Beru's?

 

[Jlaa]

I know, but you said Bosch, and I believe they were ZEF635 Beru's?

Indeed, inside the MB box were BOSCH wires, not Beru.

 

[gsxr]

Indeed, inside the MB box were BOSCH wires, not Beru.

Jlaa, do you have any photos of the MB/Borsch wires? I assume orange plastic boots, but were the wires gray or black, and were the wires numbered? I've seen both variants.

 

[Jlaa]

Jlaa, do you have any photos of the MB/Borsch wires? I assume orange plastic boots, but were the wires gray or black, and were the wires numbered? I've seen both variants.

Yes! The MB/Bosch wires have orange/plastic boots with grey wires and no numbers.

These pictures were back in 2016/2017:

 

[gsxr]

Yes! The MB/Bosch wires have orange/plastic boots with grey wires and no numbers.

Thanks! I believe those are the standard Bosch wires available via aftermarket. And that is the type with the fragile insulation, be careful when routing the wires if you need to disturb them for other engine work. MB used to sell the complete set under a BQ- accessory number but this has been NLA for a while, guess they didn't sell enough to keep the accessory alive.

 

[Steve119]

I've ordered the Beru ones again... didn't feel like testing an alternative.

I took of the metal cover off the boot too see if the rubber underneath had any signs of cracks, but nothing to see.

I do plan to put some specific grease on the plugs to ease removal of the boots when needed. Pulling hard on them for jobs like cover gaskets might not be good.

 

[Steve119]

Happy to report that it now runs perfectly smooth again with the new ignition wires!

 

[gsxr]

Happy to report that it now runs perfectly smooth again with the new ignition wires!

Steve, did you install a new set of the same Beru/France wires?

 

[Steve119]

Yes I went with the same Beru ZEF635 since no real alternative could convince me. They fit great, and at 135€ I'm willing to give them another go. Maybe they don't like the slightest pulling on them to remove for example spark plugs or a valve cover gasket, so I'm keeping faith in them.

 

[JC220]

Not sure what leads but here is an M119 with quite an issue!

 

[gsxr]

Looks like the coil wire to the passenger side? Wonder if it had damage to the outer insulation. Doesn't appear to be recent Beru like a couple other wires visible in the video. Need more info! Isn't Victor on this forum?