Another stray followed me home: 1981 300SD - Page 3 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

JimmyL · #31 01-21-2011, 01:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skid Row Joe

I'm laughing from the lengthy list.......I've only owned (5) primary daily-driver cars in my life!!

Yea, and that's just his Mercedes list....

cscmc1 · #32 01-21-2011, 10:51 AM

Any idea (ballpark) what you'll be asking? That's a sharp looking car!

TylerH860 · #33 01-21-2011, 06:20 PM

It really depends on how deep I go, for example if I have it painted.

pawoSD · #34 01-21-2011, 06:43 PM

Looks like a nice ride.

Welcome to SD land....it is the best land to be in.

Hard to believe I've now driven mine (as of tomorrow) over 100,000 miles since I bought it....

TylerH860 · #35 01-24-2011, 04:18 PM

Well, I'm ready to start tackling this car. First step is to put in a new thermostat and see if this solves the problem with the car not running at a good operating temperature in this cold weather. Next I'll replace the window switches as they're not connecting all the time. It Both rears have thumpy regulators but are functional. I'll also have a go at some new power steering hoses and see if it solves the small leak. It looks like the brake master cylinder will be swapped as well, as I can't find any source of a leak anywhere else and its displaying the classic symptoms with the pedal feel.

The big challenge I see is with the power seats. On the driver's side everything works except the forward function. The passenger side everything works but the seatback tilt. I'll get a good switch for it to test, but I would imagine its a cable issue. I've been researching and seeing techniques ranging from new spacers/cables, motors, etc, but there's also plenty of people who have updated to the newer and less trouble prone system of the second gen W126. Is this a plug and play scenario or will it require a re-wiring of the system?

Zacharias · #36 01-24-2011, 04:28 PM

Wow. Quite a find. I look forward to hearing what you want for it.

(My neighbours already think I'm insane, this would truly take the cake... LOL)

tyl604 · #37 01-24-2011, 04:28 PM

I just replaced the driver side seat switch for my 81SD. When I finished it would do everything but move forward and backward - which is exactly why I replaced it in the first place. I took the entire seat out and laid it upside down on my work bench. Hooked it up to a battery charger and surprisingly it started moving front and back. So I reinstalled the seat and it has worked fine for about two months now.

So the moral is that it might just be cranky after not working for so long. It might not be the cables. Cranky, rusty, whatever.

Sometimes I go out and move it forward and back, just for the pure pleasure of it.

TylerH860 · #38 01-25-2011, 02:08 AM

Just got back from tinkering with the SD. I had gone to my shop planning to replace the coolant thermostat and replace the window switches to see if it brings the driver's front power window to life. I went quite a bit further:

I started with the thermostat, which I had never done before but seemed pretty straightforward. Once I got the housing apart I was surprised how much coolant came flowing out. I'm thinking I might as well yank all the drains and do a proper renewing of the coolant while I'm at it. Unfortunately the last person that replaced the thermostat thought it wise to use some sort of adhesive to hold the seal in place. I don't feel like spending time scraping it off, so I'll be off to the salvage yard tomorrow to grab a nicer one. Hopefully this isn't standard procedure with these? If so I'm sure some patience with a razor blade would work.

Next I started yanking my way through the interior. The original becker has broken buttons and inoperative, so I removed it. I also yanked the CCU as the low fan speed, economy, and top vent only buttons were dead. I also pulled the cluster as and removed the rheostat. All of these parts I also should be plentiful at the local import salvage yard.

The new window switches did the trick and all 4 work reliably now. Only the back left is noisy, and the back right at just the beggining of the long, slow, noisy death and barely noticeable. Its not worth addressing for now.

I then made my way to the seat switches. Its amazing how easy door panels seem now compared to years ago. Along with the seat switch I took off the broken door handle which hangs crooked on the rod after using. I'm keeping my fingers crossed hoping its the switch, since the seat will go back, but makes no noise or effort to go forward.

Much to my surprise the passenger power seat is fully functional. Unfortunately someone broke the plastic piece that sticks out of the switch to grab and move. With the button removed its easily adjustable. I was profoundly dissapointed to discover the passenger seat switch is soldered together rather than the plug-in setup like the driver's side and the rest of the car. Its very un-Mercedes. Since the seat is adjustable easily enough I'll just keep it this way rather than snipping wires and putting them back together. I also removed a broken door check.

Here is my scavenger hunt list for tomorrow:

TylerH860 · #39 01-25-2011, 02:10 AM

Also, I found this cobbled together item after I removed my instrument cluster. Any ideas what is going on here?

tyl604 · #40 01-25-2011, 08:51 AM

I think in 1981 all the seat switches were soldered. That's the way mine was. Had to snip eight wires. The replacement had ten wires and it took a couple of posts to find out what to do with the two extra wires.

compu_85 · #41 01-25-2011, 11:05 AM

The thing behind the instrument cluster is the blinker relay. Looks like the original died and someone fitted a generic replacement.

colincoon · #42 01-25-2011, 12:42 PM

Drove this car in person over the weekend, and wow what an amazing deal this thing was! Paint it tired yes, but it drove fantastically. Turbo spooled up almost immediately, and the engine ran great. Even from a dead cold start it was firing on all five in a matter of seconds.

This would be a great car to own.

compu_85 · #43 01-25-2011, 04:42 PM

You tempt me with a nice southern car that would cost less to buy then it would cost to fix mine......

daw_two · #44 01-25-2011, 05:32 PM

You just have to remember where you posted the list when its time to update it. You might have noticed I gave up on the list in my signature some time back.

Nice looking car.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TylerH860

I was wondering if this car was number 20 for me on MBs. Turns out it was number 23. I'm losing track, so I wrote it all out here for my memory.

1: 85 500SL 2002
2: 85 300D 2007
3: 80 300TD 2008
4: 95 E320 2008
5: 83 300D 2008
6: 82 300TD 2009
7: 85 300TD 2009
8: 04 E500 2009
9: 85 300D 2009
10: 91 350SDL 2009
11: 76 450SEL 6.9 2009
12: 91 300SEL 2009
13: 95 E320 2009
15: 95 C36 AMG 2010
16: 91 560SEL 2010
17: 84 500SL 2010
18: 82 300TD 2010
19: 02 SL500 2010
20: 85 300TD 2010
21: 95 E300 2010
22: 80 240D 2010
23: 81 300SD 2011