Chris and his Mercedes Saga - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Chris Bell · #1 10-21-2003, 03:23 AM

I'm starting this topic so that it may be a diary of sorts, a record of my ownership and my attempts to do some of my own maintence on this car that I love. First a little background on myself. I am 41 years old and a full time college student. I spent the last eighteen years or so working as an electro/mechnical technician in the semiconductor manufacturing industry, I am not unfamiliar with turning wrenches. I quit the job that I had been working at for eleven years in 2000 so that I could go back to school full time. While my wife works and I work part time at Nasa Ames Research Center as a Unix geek, money is tight. For this reason I thought I'd do some of the work on the car myself. Now the car...it's a 1988 300 SEL it has about 145K miles on it, I purchased the car in April of this year off of ebay, this proved to be mistake number one but it's a "whole nuther story" so I'll let it go for now. Shortly after buying the car I took it to one of the Mercedes shops here in the South Bay to have it looked at. It turns out the car needed a great deal of work, radiator, flex disk, complete valve job, timing cover gasket, fan and fan clutch. All told the bill came to $4200, it was at this point that I decided that after this initial work was done I was going to have to be my own mechanic for the items that I'm capable of doing. And that is what this topic is about, an ongoing diary/narative of my attempt to be my own mechanic, so stay tuned for the trials and tribulations of your basic shade tree mechanic. To all the other list members out there please feel free to chime in at any time with comments, answers, suggestions or whatever.

PS: If the moderators of this list feel that this is an inapporpriate use of bandwidth and storage capacity feel free to delete the topic, you'll get no protest from me.

Chris Bell
1969 Ranger 26
1988 Mercedes 560 SEL (soon to be sold)
1988 Mercedes 300 SEL (soon to be worked on)
1995 Mercury Mystique (Soon to put out of its misery)
2001 Honda CRV ( Hell we need at least one reliable car)

Chris Bell · #2 10-21-2003, 03:34 AM

Well tonight my wife and were going to the bank and the car started missing. I think to myself that its now time to start being my own mechanic. When we get to the bank I lift the hood of the car and I immediately here a zzzt zzzt type of sound. While I'm no troubleshooting expert I know this does'nt sound good. I look down to where the spark plugs are located and I can clearly see a spark jumping from the spark plug wire to the head. So...while I wanted my first job to be something relatively fool proof, like replacing the missing antenna gasket, the car has decided that my first job will be replacing the spark plug wires. I'll order the parts online and do the work this weekend. I'll post photos and results when I finish

jjrodger · #3 10-21-2003, 03:48 AM

Good luck with the car and keep us posted.

The Warden · #4 10-21-2003, 05:40 AM

Welcome aboard!

Congratulations on deciding to become your own mechanic! In a few years, you'll be amazed that you used to pay someone $80 an hour to do this sort of work, because so much of it is so easy to perform yourself.

At least that's what I've learned with my diesels; maybe the gas-engine Benzs are different.

Just wondering, you mentioned that you're currently a student. What school are you going to? I'm in my first semester at SJSU...

blackmercedes · #5 10-21-2003, 09:14 AM

Welcome Chris! Good luck with your car. An older service-history-unsure Mercedes can be a frustrating car to own, and I'm glad you're willing to take on such "project."

You'll soon find that working on a Mercedes is not the daunting taks that many might make it out to be. In our family, we have two Japanese cars. Either the Mazda 626 or the Subaru Legacy are mostly beyond my ability to work on at home. Even routine maintenace can be frustrating. Special tools are often required, and parts are buried and difficult to get at. My Mercedes is the complete opposite. I can do most work myself, and enjoy talking car of my car.

I find it ironic that the dealer charges a great deal for what are often simple jobs and the Mazda dealer charges very little for complex jobs. Take changing instrument bulbs. My MB dealer charges $100 to change the bulbs, plus the cost of the bulbs. I have the cluster removal tools, and can do the job in about ten minutes. On the old Mazda, the entire dash practically has to come out. The Mazda dealer charges $65! Stuff like that is pretty common.

Keep us posted, and don't forget to take pics where you can.

#6 10-21-2003, 11:02 AM

Chris, you mention a valve job. Of course the plug wires were removed at that time. Heat and time make the plug wire boots stick to the plugs. Some mechanics mistakenly pull the wires off the plugs by pulling on the wire which isn't proper. You should first use a "boot puller" ( a kind of a hook that separates the boot from the plug) to help you remove the plug wire. I'm guessing the guy who did your valve job just pulled on the wire. You could be a lucky guy and find that the wire end isn't on the spark plug. This happens if they just shoved the boot onto the plug without pushing the wire back down to its correct location in the boot. You also could have a broken wire. Most wires are available individually without buying a whole set. If the whole set looks bad then replace them all but if it is just one, save your money.
I have a 126 body too and love it.

fahrgewehr2 · #7 10-21-2003, 12:34 PM

You picked the right car if you plan to spend any time with the hood up. I can almost stand in the engine bay of my SE. Very clean design. What color combo do you have?

Mike

suginami · #8 10-21-2003, 12:55 PM

FWIW, the W126 chassis 300SEL might be one of the best chassis / engine combinations Mercedes ever made, albeit slightly underpowered.

The W126 chassis is bullet-proof, with no inherent flaws. With the 3.0 liter M103 engine, there is a ton of room in the engine bay to work. This engine has a great reputation, with occasional problemw with oil leaks at the head gasket, and valve guide / valve seal wear.

It looks like you just had a valve job done, which to me means guides and seals, so you are probably set for the next 250,000 miles.

Last, spark plug wires on these cars are made of solid copper, and rarely wear out. The problem with a bad spark plug wire is not typically the wire itself, but rather the spark plug wire boot or end. The resistance is also in the spark plug boot, not the plug or the wire.

If you do decide to replace the wires, I suggest you replace them with original wires, not aftermarket wires, which are made of a copper / silicone blend, and don't have the same longevity.

It should also be suggested that you only use plain Bosch copper core plugs - the non-resistor type, and change them every 30,000 miles.

Chris Bell · #9 10-21-2003, 07:36 PM

Lets see if I can answer some of your questions.

I am currently going to school at Mission College, I'll be transfering to San Jose State in January as a junior, so with any luck I'll be done in a couple of years.

I was planning on replacing the entire spark plug wire. The short I was talking about above is actually in the spark plug connector, there is a tear in the rubber insulating material and the short is jumping out from there. I plan on replacing the whole set, my reasoning for this is that if I'm going to do it I only want to do this job once. I 'm also working on the assumption that the wire set is probably original and it's their time.

The car is white exterior and grey interior see pics

Chris Bell · #10 10-21-2003, 07:38 PM

Here's another photo

Peyton300TD · #11 10-21-2003, 08:01 PM

beautiful car!

drbrandini · #12 10-21-2003, 08:45 PM

Chris,

Welcome and nice car!

Snibble · #13 10-21-2003, 10:51 PM

Chris.. we have the exact same car.. same year, model and color combo.

I made some slight mods... putting on bosch euro headlights, clear corners and putting a european-spec bumper on to give it a sleek euro spec look.

I had the flex disk on my car replaced several months ago. I haven't done it myslef, but learned how to do it next time when my mechanic let me hang around him while he did the work. Its really simple and shouldn't have a problem. You just need a lift, and something to hold the transmission from sagging to low once you unscrew a certain piece( you will see what I mean when you get to work on this part).

I am going to have the the front two lower ball joints replaced. Mine are originals( I think) and have over 186,000 miles. I think this is one of the hardest and labor intensive job you will see if you ever work on. I am not going to do it myslef because 1) I don't have proper tools and 2) Don't want to screw something up I am not sure on how to do.

Chris Bell · #14 10-23-2003, 12:54 PM

Hi:
Your car looks good with those headlights and turn signal covers.
As you can see by the sig file I have both a 300 SEL and a 560 SEL both cars are in similar condition. Since its just my wife and I, having four cars is too much, at least one of them has to go. That means I have to sell one of the two Mercedes. Now don't get me wrong I love the 300 SEL, it was the firast Mercedes I ever owned, but god I love driving the 560 SEL that car goes like a bat out of hell. Do to the gearing in the 300 I don't like going much above 85mph, but I've had the cruise control set at a 100 in 560 and the car was'nt even breathing hard. As you might be able to tell by now I'm a bit conflicted over which car I should sell.
I guess the real question is, how much harder is it to work on v8 as opposed to the 6 cyl?

fahrgewehr2 · #15 10-23-2003, 01:17 PM

I'd keep the 560 too. It will be harder to work on though- change the spark plugs on both and you will see. You will need to change the chain on the 560, and also don't forget the rear hydro-suspension! What kinda mileage do your cars return?

Mike