Well, I just got my car today (finally) and spent the day shaking it down... I just have a few questions, of which I have listed below... I love the car, though my is a diamond in the rough, its not as bad as I had once thought.... It's amazing what some soap and water will do.

Upon taking it home for the first time, I think I may have done a boo boo... I missed a shift, and accidently sent it into the red for a breif second, but then quickly corrected it... Don't *think* anything bad happend, but I'm always paranoid...

But here are a few of my questions... I've tried searches, but came up with nothing.... I appreciate your inputs!

1.) What temperature should the 16-Valve run at. Mine seems to go from like 85 on the meter, to the 100 or 90 line. But not to the red. Much hotter than my 300D, but then again, who knows?

2.) Where should she be idling at? This car is a touch about 1,000, again, much higher than my 300D, but then again, who knows?

3.) Has anyone missed a shift and sent their 16-Valve into the red by accident? I thought for sure the car was toast, but I think it runs better! Just how strong are these little wonders?

Again, thanks for all your inputs...

Lets see...
Temperature...under steady state highway driving conditions mine sits just above the 80C mark...like maybe a needle's worth above. In stop and go traffic with ambient temps above 70, the needle will quickly rise above 100 until the aux fan kicks in, then it drops to around 88C. I feel as though the temp rises too quickly...my thought is that I should replace the radiator. Then again, it never gets to the red.

Idle...cold idle is about 1100. Warm idle is around 900 RPM.

Redline...these little 2.3-16 motors are plenty strong. I wouldn't worry about your missed shift. The fuel pump relay cuts fuel at ~7000 so you can't really over rev it. I've hit the rev limiter a few times in 1st gear because the revs climb so quickly.

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Glen Tokuhara
Beauty & the Beast and the wagon that could!

Glen, I like you man! You my boy! This is everything I wanted to hear! Thanks! I just cant believe, a car that has been sitting for 4 years is in such good tune.... Amazing!

But did I mention my missed shift was 5th to 2nd down shift? How does the rev limiter compensate for that. I've hear of many an M3 owner "floating valves" that way.

Oh. Hmm...well, in that case the fuel pump relay doesn't really help. Nothing you can do at this point so don't worry about it...and try not to miss that shift anymore

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Glen Tokuhara
Beauty & the Beast and the wagon that could!

Yeah Glen, the way I figure it, it had a rough life before I did, but I would have heard something bend, blow or screetch to a halt if something had happened... It was perhaps a split second above 7 grand... Hey, I couldn't help but notice your dashboard was a little different than mine. Did you remove any wood? And I wonder why an automatic temp control has a manual fan speed... Confusing...

My dash is completely stock. I've seen wood kits that add more wood around the instrument cluster and along the glove box...is that what you have?

Also, the '86 has slightly different switch layout then the '87. I believe you have an a/c switch to the left of the fan speed slider...the '87 does not. It's funny, I actually like the fact that the fan is completely manual instead of automatic...but I know what you mean.

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Glen Tokuhara
Beauty & the Beast and the wagon that could!

Well, my 86 is an early 86... I'm also inclined to believe it was a factory demonstrator, or dealer demo car from the papers I found. The car had 2600 miles on it when my friend bought it, and he still payed full price!

About my dash, its a forrest of wood, and its all factory wood. Wood on the upper parts of the dash, the glove box, etc. I will post pictures soon!

As for the AC, its still working itself out. I only get it to work when the car is not running, and occasionally when it is... And that sill fan speed switch. Go figure...

So I went for wiper blades today to discover the car does not take the 23" blade like the manual suggests, but one 20". The '84s take 20s... Interesting.

I have a euro 87 and the temps seem to vary quite a bit. At speed, regardless of out side temp it sits just below 80C. During summer with a/c on at a light it can climb to 100 in a blink of the eye. Yesterday in Dallas, when it was about 82F out at lights is was at 100C but never went over. I forgot what happens when temp hits 100-105F here in Dallas. As I recall I can not sit for to long till it starts creeping up past 100. Never over heated her yet though. I have a new radiator and water pump in her.

I had my throttle linkage jam 2 times and sent the tack to red line. I shut her down almost immediately. I do not seem to be suffering any damage. I would recommend checking your timing chain / pensioners / rails and making sure they are tight. That is one of the biggest problems on these cars.

Idle is about the same 1000 cold in P drops to 800 in D. When engine is warm it might drop 100 revs or so.

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Sent from an agnostic abacus

2014 C250 21,XXX my new DD ** 2013 GLK 350 18,000 Wife's new DD**

- With out god, life is everything.
- God is an ever receding pocket of scientific ignorance that's getting smaller and smaller as time moves on..." Neil DeGrasse Tyson
- You can pray for me, I'll think for you.
- When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.

Randall Kress,

I would not worry about the missed shift. If it was fatal for the car you would know it right away. If the car is running fine now, it didn't care.

There are a few items these cars need as I am now aware of how they respond to other owners. We now have three of these cars, as once I gave my oldest son my Euro (it had 205,000 miles on it at the time - and, even though I thought he hardly listened to me in his early childhood, I know he heard me say, when he was about 3 or 4 that he could have the car when he turned 16 because as the day approached he reminded me) I got hooked into giving my daughter one and one for my younger son. I bought the other two on eBay with about half the mileage. Mechanically mine was in much better shape though.

First, never use the green antifreeze, and next, change the power steering fluid regularly. I use a good synthetic fluid, and change it every 45,000 to 60,000 miles. Not a big deal, but my steering is still as smooth and sharp as the day it was built. Not the case with the eBay units at under 150,000 miles each now. I also never had any problems with the water pump (although I ran through two thermostats in 205,000 miles) and replaced it when we took the head off (burned the forward exhaust valve on #1 cylinder - remember to adjust the valves!) just because it was there and easy to get to. Adjust the valves regularly (check them every 15,000 miles and adjust when they get out of whack, which is not that often, but don't forget to check them as a rebuilt head is a lot of money). Change the fuel filter when the maintenance schedule calls for it, and pray they get rid of MTBE soon. My Euro hates that stuff.

I have had relatively few problems with the hydraulics of the SLS but have had repeated problems with the way the shocks mount to the suspension. Some bird brain has the shock, made of steel, with a steel male threaded extension that engages in a female aluminum threaded mount for the shock at the wheel. I suppose it saves unsprung weight but aluminum is just not a good choice for longevity in the real world. Drive hard over New England roads and pretty soon (less than 100,000 miles) and the female threads strip letting the shock bang over any kind of seam or sharp bump in the road. Also, the leveling valve control mechanism is prone to getting crudded up and locked in one position.

None of this stuff would every sway my loyalty to the car. It NEVER failed to get me home, or wherever I needed to go, not ever! And, in a lesser car I might not have my oldest son anymore. He got hit on I-91 just South of exit 38 on November 14 last year. Some big truck accident had the whole road tied up and stopped, except the HOV lane. A guy alone driving in the HOV noticed a lot of cop car lights ahead and drove throught the no-man's land divider to avoid a ticket. For some reason he never slowed down though and drove into the back of my son, who was standing still, going around 35 mph. Squashed the left rear side of the car pretty good, and gave my son a long lasting back and neck problem. Other than that he was fine though. The seat did't fail, and none of the doors or any part of the passenger frame got out of whack. Anyway, it took 4 months to get his insurance company to agree to pay to fix the car and it is now in the last stages of being repaired. Should have it back within a month.

So, enjoy the car and drive with confidence. They are very well made machines. Jim

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Own:
1986 Euro 190E 2.3-16 (291,000 miles),
1998 E300D TurboDiesel, 231,000 miles -purchased with 45,000,
1988 300E 5-speed 252,000 miles,
1983 240D 4-speed, purchased w/136,000, now with 222,000 miles.
2009 ML320CDI Bluetec, 89,000 miles

Owned:
1971 220D (250,000 miles plus, sold to father-in-law),
1975 240D (245,000 miles - died of body rot),
1991 350SD (176,560 miles, weakest Benz I have owned),
1999 C230 Sport (45,400 miles),
1982 240D (321,000 miles, put to sleep)

that would ruin my day if i bent a valve driving home with a "new" car...congrats on your purchase, it may not be the fastest car out there, but sure is fun to drive, enjoy

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86 16v
H&R/Bilsteins