71 450SL euro questions

[Graham]

Originally Posted by benz fanatic

Is it common for the valves to chatter on these?

There is a lot of clatter from these old cars. Are you sure it is the valves? On my car the injectors are quite noisy. I recently adjusted my valves and it did not make much if any difference to the clatter. A stethoscope lets you hear the injector noise. I am thinking of trying Mobil 1 synthetic to see if it will quieten the engine noise. Alternative is to turn the radio up.

One other thing - I read several threads about the electric kickdown switch sticking on these cars. Would it go into third at all with this condition? Thanks all, Andy

If I let off the pedal it will go into 3rd. but if I give it any real gas it down shifts to second. The shifts from one to three are firm with no flaring.

I don't think my kickdown works, but no trouble with shifts. As I understand it, if you give car a lot of gas, it delays the upshift. If you ease off on gas, it will shift earlier. This is straight from owners manual .

[deanyel]

So if your title that says 1971 450SL and 107 043 you simply have a screwed up title, which you could probably get fixed at the DMV if you did all your homework.

[ScottinSoCal]

Originally Posted by deanyel

So if your title that says 1971 450SL and 107 043 you simply have a screwed up title, which you could probably get fixed at the DMV if you did all your homework.

I'm not sure you'd want to fix that particular screw up on the title. If the DMV knows this is a grey market car you have to produce the paperwork that says it was legally imported into the US and converted to US standards at the time of import. Since you didn't know it was an import I'm going to guess you don't have any of that paperwork.

[deanyel]

I've never seen that happen, although I suppose it could be a risk in California, but then everything before 74 is emission exempt in California. Most state laws require that you apply for a title with accurate information on the car - which gives you not just the right to correct a bad title but the legal obligation to do so.