China engine replacement 1980 240D - Page 5 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

t walgamuth · #61 07-29-2007, 07:10 AM

The car looks really nice. I have always had a weak spot for the simple, elegant, rugged and faithful 240d.

Tom W

JimmyL · #62 07-31-2007, 01:39 AM

Well, Sunday I drained the block, radiator, heater core and all other lines, and just ran water until it was clear for a while. No citric flush this time.
Managed to break the mounting tab on the heater control valve. It is back in place, just kind of "modified".

Put in a gallon of the G-05, or whatever the yellow stuff is, and one gallon of distilled water. Went on about a 30 minute drive, and this car seems to like to hover around the 90 degree point. Even ran the AC again, and stayed below 95 I would guess. Will monitor this for awhile. {still getting 60 at vent with low charge}
It just cracks me up that I have working AC, and I'm not trying to be flippant or unappreciative about it. It is a stroke of luck, and I'll take it for now. I am going to shoot in an oil charge or so when I add more freon. The compressor barks a bit....

I smoothed out the shifting finally. Seems like this car disengages the clutch much closer to the firewall than the Squash. It was really making for some lurchy shifting for awhile. Wow do I need to get another shifter handle, though. Yuk!
All in all a very well mannered little 240. I must say, I like the driver's crank window, but what a pain in the butt to get to the others.
Got insurance today, and this week need to get it titled and have a token inspection done. Those 2005 stickers are going to get me into trouble if I don't take care of that.

Now I need to find a radio, fix the vac systems, change the oil and filter, and just drive and monitor the temp.
I really wouldn't mind keeping little China..........

RichC · #63 07-31-2007, 02:25 AM

.
Nice job Jimmy !

I wonder how much longer it would have taken if we all came over and tried to help ?

No, no, no, you need to put that over there and then do that.
Well it worked that way on my car.
OOPS ! o jees, sorry about the paint.
Where in the heck did he put that ?
Well while were doing this why don't we go ahead and add this too ?
Hey where does all this stuff go ?
Why is Jimmy cursing and throwing stuff at us ?

.

Palangi · #64 07-31-2007, 08:45 PM

Jimmy

Try the 75 degree Wahler thermostat from about a 75 450SL. That's what I use in the summertime. It brings the indicated temp down 5 to 10 degrees. Usually that is enough to give you some peace of mind.

JimmyL · #65 07-31-2007, 09:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Palangi

Jimmy

Try the 75 degree Wahler thermostat from about a 75 450SL. That's what I use in the summertime. It brings the indicated temp down 5 to 10 degrees. Usually that is enough to give you some peace of mind.

I will try that Paul. Heck, it isn't like we ever need a heater here anyway......

These thermostats are so easy to replace, you can have a summer and winter one.

JimmyL · #66 08-01-2007, 12:46 AM

Well, I topped the radiator a little tonight. so I imagine I had a tad bit of air in there also. It ran anound 85-90 tonight with the AC on. It was a very cool evening, probably around 80 degrees.
So, speaking of running the AC, I went by my favorite Autozone and picked up "my" AC gauges.

Also got a couple cans of R-134a {

} and a 4oz oil charge.
At 80 degrees, freon resting pressure was around 75psi. {it is psi, right?} Started China girl, flipped on the AC, wedged a screw driver in linkages to raise the idle {idle cable seized}, and my low/hi pressure with AC on was 17/150 at low idle, 10/145 at higher idle. Vent temp around 60 degrees.
Added the 4oz pag which had 2oz R-134a. Pressures lifted to 24/200 low idle, 12/175 high idle. Temp around 58.
Added one 12oz can of R-134a. Low idle pressures were 28/250. Higher idle was 22/225. Temp was.....

** now where was that temp gauge made????

**

We'll see how it goes for awhile. I went on a leisurely 30 minute drive this evening after dark, mostly on the highway, and got vent temps from about 40 even to about 42! Very cold air, but a very cool evening.
Still, for just dropping an engine in between the AC lines, it is certainly a stroke of good luck. {sorry, no skill involved}

The compressor barks quite a bit, and did prior to me charging it more. That is why I added the oil. Sight glass is just kind of a white foamy look, same before as after.
We'll see what happens in warmer weather. We all know how R-134a acts.......

bodyart27 · #67 08-01-2007, 09:49 AM

Nice job Jimmy! Good to see the girl is back on the road.

Luckily diesels are a safety inspection in TX - cheap!

JimmyL · #68 08-05-2007, 12:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bodyart27

Luckily diesels are a safety inspection in TX - cheap!

Not too rigid an inspection for sure. Honk horn, slam on brakes, check turn signals, high and low beams. Scrape off old sticker, put new sticker. $14.50, up from $12.50!
Next day I met the former owner to get her to sign the title on the back. Whoops, we both forgot. She was so happy to hear that China was running again, although the car was known as "Meche" to them.
So car is now insured, inspected and registered. Wow, legal!
So, I had noticed that the odometer was not turning. Hmmmm..... never a good sign. Odo was stuck at 136,127

A good sign was an oil change sticker from 2004 that listed the mileage at 124,xxx, so with the car being inop for a year and a half to two years, seems like the mileage has to be very close to correct.
As many know, there is a silver/gray gear in the W123 speedo that comes loose from it's shaft, and therefore no odo.

I have fixed a couple of these in the past, and this is my meager solution. It requires super glue of course, and a fair amount of patience. You have to slide the shaft out a bit, being careful not to pull shaft out too far or you will lose the correct relationship with the numbers. It is VERY hard to get it back correct if that happens.
So, a small brass collar needs to be pried off the opposite end of said shaft.

Then carefully slide the shaft out towards the end with the brass gear.

Now, this is where it gets a bit dicey. I clean everything with a Q-Tip and lighter fluid. Then I dab some super glue on the shaft and cram/slide the shaft back quickly into place. Now, hopefully it slides into the silver gear and grabs hold of that while I am furiously cleaning and spraying the shaft at the point that it goes through the housing in between the two gears.
This time it took 3 attempts to get it correctly pushed into place, have it grab, and keep it cleaned and un-stuck where it needs to be.
Somehow during all the attempts I ran it up to 136,150 so that is kind of my official starting point for documenting the work I have done so far.
Coming along.......

**edit**
I just have never had any luck using the "score the shaft" method mentioned below. Wish I did, as I would rather not use the glue if possible, but no luck with that to date......

#69 08-05-2007, 01:02 AM

I just used a small flat blade screwdriver to score the shaft where the gear sits. That way there is no chance of the glue sticking to the other gears and it gives the gear a positive bite on the shaft.

The shaft on the trip reset lever is the exact same as used on the odometer. Makes it pretty handy in case you mess up the shaft or need to take it all the way out.

JimmyL · #70 08-05-2007, 01:18 AM

Today was mostly spent mowing the yard with my pos lawn tractor {where is WhiskeyDan when I need him}, then I mowed the pasture with my flagship diesel, the Ford 3000. Love that tractor......
After I finally finished, I ran a quick errand in China, about 30 minutes of driving in 90+ degree heat. AC compressor is still barking, but I was able to manage from 49 to 52 degrees out of the vents. Not that bad for R134a in low/mid 90's. Oh, and the temp stayed right around the 85-90 degree mark.
Came back home and felt the need to clean/polish.
Now, I am most displeased that I didn't get a good "before" pic, but in this pic you can kind of get an idea of the top of the air cleaner.

ahhh, here is a pic when it was still in Scar. It had not been cleaned at all since this pic.

I first cleaned it with a citrus hand cleaning towel, and only dust came off. All the ugly stuff was going to take some effort, and some Mother's Mag and steel wool.
So, I started rubbing and quickly realized I was not going to finish this quickly. However, I was amazed at the "rot" that came off. Here is a pic with half of the cover cleaned and wiped off {not polished}.

Not fun at all to get the center portion cleaned off either.

Now, here is my handy dandy polisher. Haven't been using it for any fan blades in awhile, just air cleaner lids and valve covers. Oh well, this is a nice old motor also....

And here is the finished product. Funny how pictures really pick out little flaws that you really don't notice when just looking at it. It actually looks a little better to the naked eye, but either way, much better than where it started.

It was already dark, so no pic in the car. The flash always make things look different, especially at night.
Another day, another small step.....
Oh, also installed new shifter boot today, as the old one was cracked in half. AND, this 1980 model 240 appears to have the later style of shifter handle, and my other 1980 240 has the earlier style. Both trannies have the "collared" shifter arms, though......
Also tried to line up the glove compartment door. Another stupid MB design....

And, last but not least, I attached some foam tubing over the AC line in front of the engine. I don't know if that helps, but it certainly looks better....

JimmyL · #71 08-06-2007, 12:06 AM

Wow, that air cleaner top looks pretty good in the daylight.
Well, I decided today that I needed to hurry up and get the oil changed in little China girl. I was still running the oil from the engine's days in Scar, and I believe that car sat up for a couple of years after he was wiped out.

Never got the camera out today. Am having a back flare up of the highest order, and simply wanted to get the work done.
Oil change went off with no issues at all. Of course I hit the top of the oil filter cannister with Mother's mag, and it looks a bit better.
I also replaced the spin on fuel filter. The pre-filter has remained clear for close to a hunnert miles, so I figured it was safe to go ahead and get a known good spin on filter installed.
I also noticed that the AC belt was quite a bit loose, so I think that was my barking from the compressor and maybe not the compressor itself. We'll see...
I also finished up the repair Chris {Mustang Man298} suggested to repair my glow plug wiring issue. The fix was very easy, just as he described, and works perfectly. I now have a glow plug light. I suspect the glow plugs were still working, just without the light.
And on the way home from church earlier in the day got down to about 50 degrees vent temp. Acceptable, but barely. But that's R-134a for ya. Still not sure how to tell if I have enough freon in there, but without a known starting point of empty, it's kinda hard I guess.
I have got to get a passenger side rear view mirror, though. It is too weird to drive without one.....

Oh, and temp was fairly steady right around 90, with ambient temps in the 90's. It's starting to finally fell like summer in Texas!

bgkast · #72 08-06-2007, 01:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimmyL

**edit**
I just have never had any luck using the "score the shaft" method mentioned below. Wish I did, as I would rather not use the glue if possible, but no luck with that to date......

Try using some dikes.

#73 08-06-2007, 02:19 AM

I didn't just scratch it, I dug into it with the screwdriver to move some metal.

JimmyL · #74 01-06-2008, 01:02 AM

This came from 8/19:
All the door strikers were crumbling and the doors would not shut correctly.

Bits of the old one pictured with the new style black insert

Reinstalled striker assy

Added spacers

Tightened up screws and all was well....

JimmyL · #75 01-06-2008, 01:08 AM

Since I'm kind of an idiot, I need the warning buzzer to tell me when I leave my lights on or my keys in. This function happens inside one of Mercedes customary aluminum relays. Upon removal, there appeared to be something loose, broken at the solder joints

You can see the holes from the back side of the little pwb

Got another usable item from Scar