New Member to My Family

[oldsouth]

Just got through detailing it good enough to take some photos.

[oldsouth]

Another

[oldsouth]

One more
I shrunk the photos so there would be better detail.

[compress ignite]

I love it!
You detailed the engine compartment , before you "Brought it
out"

[JimSmith]

Looks beautiful! Congratulations and you have inspired me to give my E300 TurboDiesel a good shine this weekend! Jim

Looks great! I had a '96 E300D that I drove over 70,000 miles. It was a great road car and not bad on the winding, hilly farm roads either.

I expect that you will enjoy it alot.

Have a great day,

[jcd]

What a beauty.

You may have to change your name to "new south"

JCD

[E300D]

That car is "CRISP" I duno what other brand of cars can look so good after 100k!!

Anyways, I was wondering how you cleaned the engine bay?
How you cleaned it? First rinse it etc...
I want to do the same thing to my dad's 95E300D, same engine


Is there anything I should cover , prevent water from entering? Any electrical components?>

In the past whenever we would wash an engine, I would use "Engine Cleaner" spray it and use a brush to do the details, then I would rinse it well with garden hose. After I used the leaf blower (wind blowing out at 200mph!) and dry the engine bay.
I would finish off with "Engine Finish"

Our 190E engine after washing

[oldsouth]

Thanks for the replies.
I have a big pressure washer (steam cleaner) and I used it on the engine and underneath the car. Used the regular soap that I use to clean equipment with. Works very well. After it is dry, I use Turtle Wax spray wax on most of the underhood plastic and metal. You just spray it on and wipe it off before it dries.
I was seriously looking at a new Toyota Prius also but a Mercedes with 100,000 miles is way more car than a new Toyota. And cheaper too.
I went to a foreign country to buy it (Chicago) and drove it back to Louisiana at a very high rate of speed and averaged over 34 mpg.
Very pleased so far. It is for my son to go to school in. I wish I had owned a Mercedes when I got out of school. Went though Fords, Chevys, Oldsmobiles, Buicks, and Mazdas before I finally bought a real car. In 1995. Just think of the money I would have saved to have bought a Mercedes early on and still be driving it.

[oldsouth]

Oh; on the engine, no I did not cover anything. Mattter of fact, I removed the panel over the valve cover and cleaned under it also.

[190D22]

WOW! That is a a BEAUTIFUL car!! I wish I had some cash to sling around to get me another MB! That car makes me so jealous!

[Rick Miley]

Congratulations, it looks great. Does it have Xenons? That's the first E300 I've seen with the headlight washers.

[oldsouth]

Yes, it has Xenons. There is a switch on the dash that activates the washers. They go out and spray solution on both the high and low sides.
On another note, how do you tell if the leather seats are real leather or MB Tex. The owner said it was leather but it is not as soft of material as is in the S-Class. I haven't driven it in the rain yet but there are wires going to the windshield. How do you tell if the intermediate setting is automatically controlled by sensing the rain. I know I will know when it rains, but haven't gotten it out in the rain yet. I e-mailed Mercedes for a window sticker where I will know how it is equipped.
Also does anyone know what the a/c diagnosis codes represent when you hold down the rest on the a/c. They are different than the '95 S-Class codes.

[Rick Miley]

It looks like full leather - the Tex seats have a different pattern to the panels. Also, with the car that optioned up, I'd be surprised to see Tex. The wires in the windshield should indicate rain sensing wipers - mine has no wires at all. Steve Brotherton's article here has a link to a chart with the codes you need.

[oldsouth]

Thanks Rick, that was just what I needed.