new wagon!
 

Well, I bought the 81 wagon that I posted about a few weeks back! She made the 400 mile drive from Syracuse to Maine without a hitch. I *think* we found a good one body wise, esp for the northeast- after reading rusty floorboard horror stories on here I really poked around in there and couldn't find anything...

Anyway- she's going to need a valve adjustment, and vacuum tweaking and a few other things. I had a couple questions about what anyone might think about our suspicions of some of the work we'll be doing..
1) there's a "jingle jingle" (like a bell) sound which sounds like it's coming from the front passenger's side- wheel bearing sound right?
Also- there's a suspension sounding clunk over bumps (which we didn't notice in NY because their roads are way smoother than ours)- ball joint maybe?
We're going to pull the wheels off and check it out- is doing the ball joints a big pain? we have access to a press- but do MBs need a special one?

2) At one point, a previous owner (not the one we bought the car from) spilled what must have been at least a gallon of oil based paint over the top of the car. They wiped it off, mostly, but didn't do a very good job on the edges of things. The car is dark blue, and the paint is gray. We're thinking about just repainting the whole car, but were wondering if anybody knows if the chrome trim strip is glued or clipped on. (hoping clipped, it will be an easier paint job if so...)

thanks all!

Which model did you say this wagon is?

whoops! sorry- 81 300td.

Is the clunk in the front or the back?

FWIW a valve adjustment was the first work I did on my wagon. It was a little time-consuming the first time, but not at all difficult. I didn't buy the special wrenches, but swore that I would before doing the job again :)

Clipped. But the clips are single-use only; once they come off you'll need to use new ones to reattach the trim. My mechanic literally gives them away, so I can't imagine they're hard to get.

In '81 how many choices were there????? :D

front- seems to be drivers side.



glad to know about the clips- thanks! I wasn't sure because they do hold on quite well! at least compared to the ones on the VW...

Front area jingle.

My 300D has done that on and off for some time. Coincidentally several years ago after the trans was serviced.

It comes and goes. I thought it may have been valves but they have been adjusted twice since. Sometimes it just disappears and then happens again.
Don't worry.

If you check the underside and all looks well, then don't worry.

The bearings make a heavier redundant noise, like a motor boat when the car is moving, not a jingling.
Had that happen also.

Welcome to the jingle bell club.

p.s. I would not repaint unless the body paint is like totally shot.
There are some great paint cleaning and refurb products on the market now. Expensive but less than a whole paint job.
Your original paint is high quality and has enough skin to buff out the oxidized top layers.
Trunk may be matched or find one at a junk yard with same color.

I replaced two doors from a junker with same Ivory color as my body. Perfect match !;)

Well, excuuuuuuse meeeeeee! I'm not up on the history of 1980's MB wagons. Just wondering if it was similar to mine, that's all.

Still have gas from the GTG?

Jingling sound could be Brake calipers not retracting fully. When it starts again, see if it goes away in a hard braking. And also see if it comes and goes with a slight turn of the steering wheel. But also could be some metal touching metal and vibrating where rubber should be. Like ball joints, and control arm bushings etc. Since you already know that needs to be gone through. I had the clunking but with the extensive rebuilding of the Suspension I cannot tell you exactly what thing replaced caused it. But it was solved with rebuild of the front suspension. The tingling jingling at times did seem to be the brake pads barely touching because the calipers were sticking. Its gone after a caliper rebuild and new pads.

thanks all! We were wondering if the jingling could be the brake calipers b/c the PO gave us some brake pads- he thought we'd need them soon, and the noise does seem to change/stop for a second when braking.

yeah the paint job would be a process- and I do think we could get the paint back to pretty good shape. Somebody (maybe in an attempt to get the spilled paint off) took scotch brite to the drivers side front fender and door. :rolleyes: so that will need at the least some elbow grease to get it back to nice and shiny.

but my husband is a finish guy, so we have access to a shop with all the paint stuff we'd need. He repainted his 79 rabbit with the factory original color (it had faded from being in the sw for years) and clear coated it- I love the shine... :D

Anybody know if the original paint is a laquer based paint?

now we just have to finish dealing with the fuel system on the MG so we can pull the MB in...

Choices for the wagon
 

Quite a few wagons, actually, wise guy ^^^^:mad:

===============
240 TD

5-Sitzer, 5 Türen
4-Zylinder Dieselmotor

53 kW / 72 PS /

----------------


300 TD

5-Sitzer, 5 Türen
5-Zylinder Dieselmotor

65 kW / 88 PS /

-----------------


300 TD T

Turbo Diesel


5-Sitzer, 5 Türen
5-Zylinder Dieselmotor

92 kW / 125 PS /

------------------



200 T

5-Sitzer, 5 Türen
4-Zylinder Vergasermotor

80 kW / 109 PS /

-------------------

230 TE

5-Sitzer, 5 Türen
4-Zylinder Einspritzmotor

100 kW / 136 PS / 8


--------------------


250 T

5-Sitzer, 5 Türen
6-Zylinder Vergasermotor


103 kW / 140 PS / ,8


-----------------------


280 TE

5-Sitzer, 5 Türen
6-Zylinder Einspritzmotor

136 kW / 185 PS /

The gingle could also be the brake hardware...