Interior: (cont'd)
Repainting gauge needles
This page helps you make that old cluster (set of gauges) look like new again by painting the needles which started off orange and faded off to that bright yellow they now are. Also while in there I highly recommend cleaning the trip odometer off, by lightly pushing the reset button as you roll the trip odometer around to clean it off. Another good fix while having it out would be to get that non functional odometer working again by roughing up the shaft the plastic gear spins on.
Wiring Seat Heater
If you want to install a heating element in the seat of your W123 or similiar Benz this may be worth a glance. Mercedes was good enough to allow space in the fuse panel for the seat heaters but it takes a little work getting things to work out.
Rebuilding Seats (Coming Eventually, unedited pictures up)
When it comes time to recover your seats, replace the spring, or if you just want to add lumbar support then perhaps this page will be beneficial to you.
Conversion to Electric Vacuum Pump Powered Locks
82-300td walks you through a conversion from the motor powered vacuum pump our W123s came with from the factory to the electric vacuum pump systems that the W126s came with. No more having your locks only working a few times between running the motor. If you are interested in this for keyless entry may I suggest getting a system with power lock actuator which is installed on the power door and uses the current vacuum system to unlock the other doors.
Odometer Repair
Diesel Giant provides an excellent writeup on repairing a broken odometer with some good photos of the task. Scroll down to find it.
Installing Evaporator Box
Having some really bad A/C issues not due to the climate control or just lack of Freon? Perhaps this page created by Dave Morrison will be of some interest then.
Ignition Switch Troubleshooting
Negligence can lead to some bad problems and this may be one of them, if the key doesn’t turn right once or twice it’d be best to save your time and change it while you can. The tumblers get sloppy then out of the blue they stop working, if the tumbler can’t be turned then the vehicle must be towed to a Mercedes dealer and they’ll have to drill it out at a very high expense.
Refinishing the wood in your Mercedes
Unfortunately in time the finish seems to crack and fade, if you're tired of looking at this and not willing to big money to have it redone then perhaps this page is your answer!
General Maintenance:
Accessory belt replacement
This page will help you change your belts by locating those tensioners, the bolts that need to be loosened, and tips on tensioning and detensioning the systems.
Oil & Oil Filter Change
Bill Makemson created this page to help you change your oil with the correct procedure. As Larry Bible always says, change it hot and change it often.
Power steering filter and fluid change
Herbert Rocha wrote this article so you will know the easiest way to change the power steering fluid and filter. Rather than sucking the fluid out of the reservoir and changing it little by little it is recommended to remove the return line and let the pump empty the old fluid into the waste container.
Servicing the Rear Brakes
Alan Phillips makes changing the rear brakes easy by walking you through the procedure with this page. This is also quite applicable to the front brakes with a few minor complications.
Repacking Bearings
If a quality (synthetic) grease is used the wheel bearings should be packed every 40-50k miles, if a lesser quality grease is used then perhaps they should be repacked every 20-30k miles.
Motor:
Replacing Glow Plugs
Sean Roland walks you through troubleshooting and replacing the glow plugs. The GPs can be tested by using an accurate multimeter from the body of the GP to the center stud shouldn't exceed 1.0ohms of resistance.
Injection Pump Timing Adjustment for 617 Engines
Richard Easley talks you through timing the injection pump with no special tools. In my opinion this isn't a very accurate way to set timing, in the near future I'll create a page on using the injection pump locking tool to set the timing.
Repairing Monovalve
This page created by Philip Fox goes through the steps in repairing a bad monovalve. Generally the monovalve is repaired rather than replaced because a new monovalve is very expensive, but a rebuild kit is generally around $30 which isn't very bad. A bad monovalve is famous (or lack thereof) for the heat working at slower speeds and rpms but not at higher speeds even though the water temperature is still up.
Replacing the Turbocharger Oil Return Tube Seals
on Mercedes-Benz 617.952 Diesel Engines
I hate oil leaks, at this moment the only oil leak I have is actually from the turbo return seals so I'll soon get to follow this page created by Richard Easley, perhaps I'll make one of my own with pictures as well.
http://www.peachparts.com/Wikka/OM617TurboDrainTube
Adjusting Wastegate Spring
In time the spring which controls the boost pressure fatigues from the heat and repetitive cycles, what does this mean to you? Well rather than the car going 0-60 in 13 seconds like it did from the factory it may be significantly worse. The factory boost is about 13psi so if you have a lot of mileage on your vehicle and never set this before you're probably running a little bit less than this. I hear of down to 8psi on quite a few cars. So if you conclude your turbo pressure is to low then this page by Stu Ritter should come in very helpful.
Vacuum:
Checking Boost Sensing Lines
And Overboost Sensing Switch for 617 Engines
Well the boost lines and overboost switch have made themselves famous, in a negative manner, for causing poor performance and lag. When the boost lines clog up the IP doesn't know your turbo is running so it doesn't send the extra fuel in, which results in little to no added power. The overboost switch sometimes gets in the way of the signal, some people have bypassed it all together but it is there to help you in case the wastegate goes uncontrolled.
Rebuilding the Vacuum Pump on the 617 Engine
Our vacuum pumps last quite well but one part failure in it may cost the whole part to quit working. Richard Easley made a very nice page full of good pictures on how to rebuild your old pump. Rebuild kits can be had for far less money than what it'd take for a new pump.
Vacuum system Tuning (transmission)
While I can't say this is a perfect document as I don't think it goes into enough depth in some areas and to much in other areas, it is also the best transmission adjustment article that I know of. As a quick reminder, flaring is when the transmission free revs between shifts.
Vacuum System
Very simple page here of my vacuum system and some nice factory vacuum diagrams to help troubleshoot, provided by Peter Schmid transmission shop.
Troubleshooting the vacuum to the door locks
IceSailor takes you through the step by step sequence to find your vacuum leak at one of the doors, the trunk, or the fuel filler door. Follow it carefully, fix that leak, and get your door locks working again.
Valve Adjustment
While I don't agree with Jamie that you need the tools for the valve adjustment job, I do agree it makes it much easier. Valve adjustments can help smooth out the idle, bring back a little performance, or just plain help keep the car's performance upto par. I'm not sure what Mercedes' specification on doing it is, but I would suggest somewhere between 30-50k mile intervals.
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If you know of a good W123 or W126 related page, wrote a page, or want to write one send me an email.