Achtung - Das schweinhund baby benz thread

[Stretch]

Ho Lee Furk.

It passed.

It is legal.

They took near two hours adjusting the suspension for me and they have the correct kit. So there we go...

...I'll tell you about pulling the differential apart at the last moment and having to fix the blower motor (of all sodding things needed for a safety inspection here!) in the car park some other time.

[suginami]

Originally Posted by Stretch

Ho Lee Furk.

It passed.

It is legal.

They took near two hours adjusting the suspension for me and they have the correct kit. So there we go...

...I'll tell you about pulling the differential apart at the last moment and having to fix the blower motor (of all sodding things needed for a safety inspection here!) in the car park some other time.

That's really good news. So it passed the MOT in the U.K?

Did they charge you to adjust the suspension?

[Stretch]

Originally Posted by suginami

That's really good news. So it passed the MOT in the U.K?

Did they charge you to adjust the suspension?

Nope it is still a Dutch registered vehicle - so it has a Dutch APK (MOT).

Funny how different countries have different ideas about what is important. Whilst most countries seem to think brakes are important there are subtle differences. I don't think the car would have passed in the UK because of emissions (I need to get the engine tuned - it is still a bit lumpy though this might get better with some use - could be gunked up injectors again); the front seat is stuck all the way at the back of the tracks (bloody thing!); I'm sure the headlights aren't pointing in exactly the right direction (!); the speedometer doesn't work (I think I need to pull out that sodding cluster again); the exhaust is knocking on something; but they made a fuss about the blower motor...

...don't get me wrong I am not complaining - that piece of paper is very important. Because of the cocking about (mostly on my side of the process) the chaps at the garage got a 20 euro tip for putting up with me. They were pretty shocked by me fixing stuff in their car park - they probably think all scruffy English blokes are total nut jobs...

...anyway...

It remains to be seen how good the four wheel alignment actually is. It was "done with lasers" so I have little faith in it being spot on. I have a print out of the before and after that I'll scan in and post up some time.

The chap who did the job came in and complained to me that for most cars it is a ten minute job but it took him nearly two hours to sort everything out. He said it is always a nightmare doing a Mercedes alignment. (There's a certain degree of reluctance)

[Stretch]

Quick update.

The car took me and shed loads of stuff from the middle of Holland all the way to the edge of Pembrokeshire in Wales. After about 15 minutes of driving the ABS light came on (and stayed on for the rest of the 12 hour journey - well except for the two hours on the ferry between Calais and Dover).

On the whole the car performed kind of OK - I'm not hap hap hap hap hap hap happy with just yet but it was good enough to perform the task of a car with out the help of the breakdown services.

Main problems were

1) ABS light
2) Quite a bit of drive line shunt (Not giving a Mercedes luxury feel)
3) Crunchy gear change on urgent 4 => 5th gear changes
4) Smell of burning underseal on a hot exhaust!
5) Hand brake is playing up (not sure why)
6) I had to top up the engine oil towards the end of the journey
7) Bloody driver's seat is stuck all the way back
8) Car felt underpowered (although it was actually quite heavily loaded so I'll see what it is like when empty on these mental Welsh hills!)

[Simpler=Better]

Originally Posted by Stretch

Quick update.

The car took me and shed loads of stuff from the middle of Holland all the way to the edge of Pembrokeshire in Wales. After about 15 minutes of driving the ABS light came on (and stayed on for the rest of the 12 hour journey - well except for the two hours on the ferry between Calais and Dover).

On the whole the car performed kind of OK - I'm not hap hap hap hap hap hap happy with just yet but it was good enough to perform the task of a car with out the help of the breakdown services.

Main problems were

1) ABS light
2) Quite a bit of drive line shunt (Not giving a Mercedes luxury feel)
3) Crunchy gear change on urgent 4 => 5th gear changes
4) Smell of burning underseal on a hot exhaust!
5) Hand brake is playing up (not sure why)
6) I had to top up the engine oil towards the end of the journey
7) Bloody driver's seat is stuck all the way back
8) Car felt underpowered (although it was actually quite heavily loaded so I'll see what it is like when empty on these mental Welsh hills!)

1-Think of it as mood lighting
2-That's the high performance shake, some people pay extra for it.
3-Crunchy food is better than mushy so....
4-Mmmmm
5-Just leave it in gear, that's never backfired right?
6-British oil change
7-Get taller!
8-Diesel spoils you

[Stretch]

Nice one - though I'm not going back to the good old days just yet!

Originally Posted by Simpler=Better

...
6-British oil change
...

[Fact150]

Did you ever sort your wiper ? I seem to have the same issue after rehabbing it . It moves with my hand but not when it's plugged in . But it can see it wanting to move . I obviously did something wrong when reassembling it . And driving without a wiper in Oregon kinda sucks .

[Stretch]

Originally Posted by Fact150

Did you ever sort your wiper ? I seem to have the same issue after rehabbing it . It moves with my hand but not when it's plugged in . But it can see it wanting to move . I obviously did something wrong when reassembling it . And driving without a wiper in Oregon kinda sucks .

Oh yes - the wiper was sorted out - around here that's something that gets used a lot.

The trick to getting mine to work was to disconnect the mechanism from the motor and then switch on the ignition (with the electrical connector attached and the switch in the off position). This gets the motor to go to its starting position. I then reconnected the mechanism to the motor and all was good.

I had previously checked to make sure that the extending arm mechanism in the hub at the bottom of the wiper was compressed at the top of the stroke (top of the window) before I put that back together.

I had also previously checked to see if the external linkage (which has a kind of rocking motion to it - well a sort of odd parallelogram thing going on) was in the middle of the rocking motion when the wiper was parked.

[gatorblue92]

Originally Posted by Stretch

Nice one - though I'm not going back to the good old days just yet!

If it was a true British oil change there would have been a small electrical issue as well.

[Stretch]

Blower motor =>

The blinking thing is a new one and was fitted rather quickly to help it through the Dutch MOT (APK) before I left Holland and got here in Wales. I had to get the motor running to satisfy the tester but as it turned out on a rainy day in Calais (waiting for the boat) the effectiveness of the system was zero. Rainy days in Wales also steam up the car really quickly and it is now seriously dangerous driving along with your head stuck out of the driver's door window...

...I thought part of the problem was that the plug on the new did not fit with the original plugs on the car. I thought the fan might be sucking rather than blowing so first job was to check correct rotation of the blades.



As you can see from the photo above the air gets drawn in the side of the fan and thrown out at right angles.

The wiring colours on my new fan didn't match the old wires. For this replacement fan the red wire with the black line on it (on the new) matches the red wire on the car's original loom. Black then matches the brown.



For the situation of "no heat" the vacuum dashpot at the bottom of the picture above is the part that needs to be checked - I might have to be back here again.

{To access the fan you really need to remove the grill under the wiper motor and the wiper motor assembly - then you can reach the cover that goes over the blower motor}

So anyway the motor was found (by sheer fluke) to be spinning the right way so it turned out that sucking instead of blowing wasn't the trouble.

[Stretch]

The next clue to the trouble was the position of the fan switch. As far as I can remember it has never gone all the way to the left in the "off" position before.



I kind of figured summit was up

Pulling out the centre vent pods and the ducting outer case showed the following



It turns out that lever in the back opens the flap that lets the air from the blower motor come into the cabin. No working flap? No blow...

To get to it I needed to pull out the whole upper section of the centre console. A quick look in the FSM on startek showed a diagram of two screws in the foot wells behind the lower dash panels. This must be the MK1 interior though because I found the scres in different places for my console.

For my car the screws are behind the ash tray and at the top of the console on the centre vent ducting outer case. The centre of the console is also held in place by 24mm hex nuts behind the switches.

Just yank the switches out =>







To remove the wood behind the switches you also need to get two little cross head screws at the bottom of the panel.

[Stretch]

Remove ash tray - plug for lighter needs to be removed





The bottom of my console is held in place with these two screws (see above)

Please excuse the rats nest of wires - they are just for the radio! ay be one day I'll get round to sorting them out properly



CIA tracking device was fitted as standard to this vehicle - I'm surprised they knew I'd buy this car as a second hand car all the way back then in 1992...



...strange as the car does not have any airbags fitted.

[Stretch]

I thought at first I could get away with jamming the switch back onto the lever for the flap.

No dice - the switch lever slipped out of the heater box assembly and fell on the floor of the car!

Turns out the plastic around the switch on the one time only push fit fittings was bust.





(Sorry about the auto-focus troubles folks!)

The switch runs along a track. On the back of the switch there's a little spring loaded roller that contacts with the three speed positions switches inside the heater box assembly.



I put it all back together and did a Mythbusters special => bodge tape and a zip tie!



We'll see how long this holds

The slider now operates the fan and the flap which can be seen on the other side of the bulkhead near to the motor

[Mike D]

It's been over a week since you broke/repaired anything. What's the matter?

[Stretch]

Originally Posted by Mike D

It's been over a week since you broke/repaired anything. What's the matter?

Oh don't worry - it is still giving me trouble!

The catalytic converter needs to be sorted out. I get people driving past me trying to get fresh air...

...the defogging fan that I fixed seems to switch itself on and off when it feels like it - it is definitely a vacuum / vacuum pod related issue. It seems like the system is semi-automatic => **** knows what's really going on with it...

...ABS light is still providing mood lighting...

...but the car has been stashed in an underground garage in Croydon whilst I have been back and forth to Holland trying to get "stuff" sorted out.

(Rather unfortunate Holland is the destination and I know what you'll say next about that - but it is not what you think!)