re-upholster, junk yard or sheep-skin?

[gilwave]

I bought a 1989 560 SEL with 163k on it this week, drove it from Chicago to New Jersey. Sweet ride.

I took her around today to get estimates on rust repair/body work, upholstery repair, etc.

The uphosltery guy came highly recomended by my auto body guy. The driver's seat is ripped at the seams, split in the perforated seat section, and has a hole in the left side panel toward the lower portion of the seatback. He went over the driver's seat thoroughly, gave me a quote of $1210 to rebuild and re-upholster it from the ground up with Mercedes palomono leather.

If he does that, the passenger seat is going to look really worn in comparison (although it is not ripped or torn), so he will do both seats for $2150.

Does this seem steep to you? I have seen this guys work and it is exceptional. But I only paid $3000 *for the whole car*, it seems a bit much to pay $2150 for two bucket seats. Any alternatives other than the sheep-skin cover route?

Is is reasonable to assume that there may be a junked 560 with a blown motor but decent seats? Since the W126 was used across several models, are the seats the same from a 300 or 420 as those in the 560? An SL or SEC same as an SEL? If so I assume there would be decent availability on the used market.

As always, any feedback would be appreciated.

-gil

[Ron406]

check performance Products.......They have leather upolstery kits or a MB Tex product .... about 500 per seat for leather and 250 for MB Tex
Ron

[gilwave]

Thanks Ron - that's the perfect solution.

Performance is a great resource.

Two things I am having trouble finding:

A replacement speaker cover for the left rear deck speaker

A replacement kickplate for the left foot to rest on left of the brake - I don't even know what this is called to search for it.

-gil

[Ron406]

Wrecking yard? check Calif or arizona
Ron

[boneheaddoctor]

Do a search on World Upolstery...they are pricey but far cheaper than he quoted.

[braverichard]

Gil,

I apologize for taking so long to get back to you. Glad to hear your trip from Chicago went well without any problems. Tell me, how much money and how many gallons of premium gasoline did that sucka gulp down those 700+ miles?

Regarding your seats, you have limited options because the leather stitching pattern on your seats was made for just the last three years of the W126's life. If your car were a pre-1989, I would have suggested looking around eBay for some good seats out of a wrecked car. There are usually some there once in a while, but those for your leather pattern are rare due to the limited availability of those cars. And yes, to answer your earlier question, seats out of any 1989 - 1991 W126 will match yours perfectly (as long as you get the right leather color of course).

$2150 does seem high for such a job and when you consider what you paid for the car it starts to look even worse. But hey, if the guy's work is very good it might be worth it. I mean, some people make monthly car payments of $300 and then pay insurance amounts of $400 per month for the same car. Just forget about your purchase price when you get into this. MB leather reconditioning has never been cheap and that's why there are lots of these cars running all over the place with torn and ripped leather seats and no one will repair them.

However, before you dive into this, get as many quotes as you can. Try http://www.worlduph.com/hubpageMERCEDES.htm and get a quote for your leather and see what it looks like. Also just crawl around eBay and see if you find anything interesting. Additionally, submit a parts request at http://www.getusedparts.com/ and you may be surprised that someone may have exactly what you're looking for. Just make sure that in the latter website you specify that the leather must be tan (that's your leather color if I remember correctly) and must be from a 1989 - 1991 300SE, 300SEL, 420SEL, 560SEL, 350SD or 350SDL (the entire W126 model lineup for the US in those years). Try to have pictures of the seats sent to you or make sure they guarantee the leather to be in great shape. I submitted a request there several months ago for a rear seat back with headrests for my 300SD and I got one that was in perfect shape from there for just $175 shipped to my door. So give it a shot and update us.

Good luck and enjoy that Benzo,

Richard

[braverichard]

Originally Posted by gilwave

Two things I am having trouble finding:

A replacement speaker cover for the left rear deck speaker

A replacement kickplate for the left foot to rest on left of the brake - I don't even know what this is called to search for it.

-gil

I would have sold you the speaker cover from my 500SEL however that car has a grey interior so I don't think it will match yours. I'll check.

For the second item, are you referring to the dead pedal? The thing that actually covers the foot rest raising it up almost to the height of the pedals?

[gilwave]

Thanks Richard...

Nice to hear from you again - thanks for all the useful information. I will dig around for some seats and post on getusedparts - it's not that I think the Upholsterer is overcharging - he is one of the best in the business and it is custom work after all - it's just a lot of money, almost as much as I paid for the car. So I will check my other options and keep you posted.

I filled the tank outside Chicago - $2.47 a gallon times 18 gallons (I think the tank holds 23) and headed up to Detroit. I filled it twice more, and didn't use it all on the way home. It was around $90 in fuel. The weird thing was, when I firts filled up at the beginning of the trip, I checked the oil - perfect middle level between min and max, and it looked relatively clean.

On the way from Cleveland to Pennsylvania, the oil light illuminated on the dash, so I stopped and checked it and it was below "min". But I didn't see any signs of leaking or splashing and the manifold was dry. So I bought a gallon of Valvoline 10W30 (theere ws a Valvoline sticker on the windsheild saying next oil change due at 165,000 miles) and it took almost 3 quarts.

I drove 200 miles and checked it again- perfect mid-line. Drove 200 more miles, checked it - still midline.

Checked it every day since I've been home - fine. Don't know where those 3 quarts went or why. My mechanic has it this week while I am in Frankfurt for a convention, he says it needs front brakes and "little things" but wants to talk to me when I get back about the level I want to bring the car too. He says I can spend a little, drive it for a year and sell it, or I can spend a little more and drive it for a few years and sell it, or I can spend a little more than that and keep the car, period.

I have been talking with MB owners here in Germany of all types - taxi drivers who only drive diesels (one got to 900,000 miles on an E320 and sold it to a neighbor, who still drives it as a cab in the city!), execs who have had E-class, S-class and M-class, those who started wth C190s and worked there way up. I have learned alot and it is amazing how people here love to "talk shop" on their MB ownership experinces.

I think if I ever buy a new MB (and I am leaning toward the soon-to-be-released "R" class) I will do the European Delivery deal and drive it around Germany for a week.

As for the "dead pedal" as you call it - yes, it is as you describe. I broke it (I am 6'3" tall, 265 pounds, and used it to push myself back into the seat - it was brittle and broke under my foot) Any ideas on where to find one? The searches I did on parts stores brought up nothing.

All the best -

gil

[braverichard]

Gil,

Looks like your driver's foot rest aka dead pedal was already weak for you to have broken it. I am 6'3" and 300 lbs and mine is still intact, even though I have a funny feeling that one of these days I'll break it! Any luck finding one since your last posting? If you really need one right away, you can get a temporary one like this one http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=33700&item=7966037676&rd=1 which isn't like the one from your car but will fit there for now and will serve the purpose as you keep looking. Of course you can just wait till you find one that looks like what came with your car from the factory. I'm sure that if you just keep your eyes on eBay you can find one eventually. Oh, an alternative means of getting one would be to post your request in the parts forum and see if there's a forum member that has what you need and will sell it to you for a fair price.

I can't explain that excessive oil consumption that occurred before you put in the new, fresh oil. The only thing I can think of it that perhaps the oil was so old that it had lost its abilities as a lubricant and its abilities to resist getting boiled away and was getting burnt up in the cylinder walls and eventually its volume reduced forcing the oil light to come on.

Seems like the fuel consumption wasn't that bad. So did you calculate the average MPG over the trip? If so, what was it?

[gilwave]

Hello again Richard...

I will keep looking for the Dead Pedal as an original part, thanks for the link to the AMG one.

My mechanic had the car for a week, found a small leak in the upper right rear of the transmission, will send it to a buddy of mine who is a tranny guy for a look-see. Also found a few drops of fluid at the power steering pump.

Otherwise he says the car checks out nicely - frame and joints and bearings all in good shape. I got the service paperwork from the seller, found that the timing chain and rails were done at 115,851 miles in mid 1997 - phew!

All other maintenence was done on schedule, the original owner took good care of the car. As for the oil consumption, I am inclined to consider your theory although the mechanic says it may be engine (valve) related. I am taking it to a specialist in two weeks to have the engine checked out more thoroughly.

As for the gas mileage on the trip, I averaged just under 20 mpg. The trip was almost 100% highway, and I used the cruise control most of the time, set at 75 mph.

I am starting to fall in love with the W126, and better understand all the enthusiasm on this site and others. While I was in Frankfurt I had many discussions with cab drivers and other Benz owners - it seems that the 126 and 140 are the workhorses, the 220 is prevalent but not as well regarded. All the taxis in Germany are exclusively Diesel, and the new CDC is a favorite among the younger cab drivers.

-g

[braverichard]

Hello Gil,

20mpg from a 560SEL on a straight highway trip at 75mph is very good. That shows the engine is in good shape.

I don't see why taking the engine for a valve check out would be necessary at such low mileage. These engines typically require a valve job around 250K. Well, let us know of the outcome.

Cheers,

Richard

[gilwave]

The engine just isn't running as smooth as it should. I will start with a tune-up, cap and rotor, new wires - and it's time for another oil and filter change (will stay "analog" this time - not convinced on the value of Digital (synthetic) yet.

If that does the trick, great. If not, I'll check the valves.

The owner of this car kept it for 15 years, and did all the maintenence and a few repairs - what made her decide it was time to sell? It sold at auction for $2795, then I bought it for $3000 from the guy that picked it up at the auction. Did she trade it in on a new car? Or was she faced with a major repair and choose to pack it in?

I am thinking of writing to her and asking her some questions regarding previous transmission service and oild consumption complaints evidenced in her service history.

-g

[braverichard]

Well Gil the first thing you do when you purchase a car and wish to have a smooth, as trouble free as possible ownership is to bring it up to speed in all maintenance aspects. Change all the fluids (engine, transmission, differential, power steering if possible), all the filters, replace all spark plugs, distributor rotor and cap and wires, and depending on your budget, change all brake pads and rotors, considering the age of the car you may be well advised to change the brake lines as well if you can afford it, flush the brake fluid system, flush the cooling system, put some fuel injector cleaner to clean out the fuel injectors and fuel system in case they are dirty, change all the drive belts as you'd hate such cheap things to leave you stranded on the road, change any leaking gaskets and have your mechanic inspect the state of the other major components of the car.

I'll tell you this though, the owner probably just traded it in. I don't believe there's anything wrong with the car so just rule that out.

Don't start stressing over things that happened over your drive back home. Get the car up to speed, put fresh oil in there and drive it for a while. Monitor the oil level by checking the fluid levels every weekend. Then right before your first oil change send off an oil sample for analysis and that should give you a good idea of how things are inside the engine. Like I said earlier, that old oil may have just boiled off. Did you read anything about excessive oil consumption in the service records?

[gilwave]

I put new front brakes in last week (so THAT's what that yellow light means!) and am doing all the rest of what you suggest on Monday.

Where do I send the dirty oil for analysis?

As for the interior, I found a decent price from Performance Products for a complete kit, I can get both front seats done for half what the upholstery guy was going to charge me. Then I'll just need the Dead Pedal.

Phew! Quite a project I bought into. Have to put my other hobbies on hold for a bit.

-g

[braverichard]

Good work. Trust me, you won't regret any of the money you're spending by bringing this machine up to speed. The yellow light as you just learned is the brake pad wear indicator. Here's a simple explanation of how that light works: the brake pads have tiny brake pad wear sensors on them. Once the pads wear down to a certain level, the sensors make contact thereby grounding the circuit and turning on that light.

For your oil analysis, I'd recommend Oil Analyzers Inc. You can purchased an analysis kit from https://www.amsoil.com/storefront/SearchResult.aspx?CategoryID=98 . Just take one of the single sample kits available (one is with return postage paid and the other is without the return postage). I've used this company's services many times and I've never been disappointed.

Good also to hear you've found an upholstery kit that won't cost as much as the first guy was asking for. But who will put the upholstery on your car for you? Regarding the deal pedal, like I said earlier, just keep your eyes on eBay and post something on the Parts section of the forum. You might be surprised!!

Cheers,

Richard