Worthless DIY Repairs - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

G-Benz · #1 08-31-2004, 01:39 PM

Anyone want to share any stories regarding time spent painstakingly replacing, refurbishing or installing a component...only to find that it did NOTHING to improve the performance or alleviate the original problem!

Last night I spent the evening removing the brake pads sets on all 4 wheels of the W124 and liberally applied brake paste in order to quell the annoying squeal I have lived with for months...a brisk test drive and continued brake squeal only served to demonstrate that I wasted my time!

So I pulled the car in and decided to replace the ambient temp sensor cable I had sitting around that I never installed since I ordered it about a year ago. Carefully disconnected the old cable and unrouted it through the winding paths of the engine compartment, and routed the new one through the same path and back to the fuse box, where I soldered the new leads, clipped them back into the fusible link and reattached.

Temp indicator still reads with the same inaccuracy!

So there went an evening of wasted repairs!

Anybody else gone through this?

Arthur Dalton · #2 08-31-2004, 02:00 PM

Nope ....[bg]

AlexTheSeal · #3 08-31-2004, 02:06 PM

I recently replaced a window regulator, then realized that the problem was broken wires in the rubber boot at the doorjamb.

Not such a big deal, since I hadn't put the door back together yet, and the inner panel and plastic moisture barrier need to come off anyway to fix the wiring... except that I HATE getting W124 window regulators in and out. It's like trying to maneuver a sofa up a flight of stairs, plus you get to cut your hand on all the sharp edges in there.

yal · #4 08-31-2004, 02:09 PM

G-Benz I had a similar experience with my brakes. My rears kept squeeling. I bought new rotors, new pads, even bought new pins and new backing spring and spent a beautiful afternoon changing the rear brakes. Used lots of paste and used regular OE pads. No DICE!

Squeel returned. And I could have been at the beach.

By the way my rear brakes finally stopped squeeling after I bought wagner brake shims from www.********.com They cost $5. Wafer thin alloy shims that fit between the pads and inside caliper face. They also sell a front set.

I think the chronic squeel on W124's with correct OE/OE-like pads has to do with the age of the calipers, this is just a guess, my front ones use to squeel until I replaced them with rebuilt units.

bhatt · #5 08-31-2004, 04:06 PM

Had a "wheel bearing" type noise from the rear left that was intermittent. When making hard right turns, it was almost guaranteed to appear.. also appeared sometimes when going straight or curving to the right on the highway. Figured it had to be the left rear wheel bearing.

Dropped it off at the mechanic for his expert advice. He couldn't find anything wrong with the car so said our only shot was to change the wheel bearing. Replaced it and showed me the old one. Old one looked *brand new* at 200k mi! Problem went away for a week and reappeared...

I gave up! Decided to drive the car until either the problem got worse (and more obvious!) or went away (which it never did..)

A year later, I changed the diff fluid and put in synthetic. Problem went away immediately and never came back. Even 2 years later, it's completely silent. Noise is gone and so is the $$$ I paid to replace the "good" wheel bearing!

Neal

csnow · #6 08-31-2004, 04:10 PM

Replaced fuel sender. Still have intermittent gauge. Hate when that happens.

mctwin2kman · #7 08-31-2004, 04:42 PM

Replaced the Fuel Pressure Regulator, Fuel Filter, OVP to correct a rough idle and to no avail, fixed it by other means! Replaced a Kickdown Solenoid on the tranny only to find out the wire was broken in the connector! I have spent almost a few hundred bucks on parts that I did not really need! Basically all I got was peace of mind that these parts will not be replaced in the near future! Replace the fuel gauge cluster because it would not go to Full, now it bounces all around once past 1/2 tank! Tach cluster to replace a bad clock, other one worked for a few days then died and now the tach bounces when shifting! **** I have broken old sensors and had to get new to fix, then broken the new because everything is so close and one slip of the wrench even the slightest breaks the damn things! I curse out the German who designed the W201 oh so often!!!!

kerry · #8 08-31-2004, 05:03 PM

30 years ago, I bought a 67 Austin Healey Sprite blowing LOTS of smoke. Owner told me it had been diagnosed with a bad head gasket. I concurred and bought it. Replaced the head gasket (twice). Made no difference. Decided rings were bad. Rebuilt the engine (twice). Made no difference. My wife found me in a state of despair sitting beside the car with huge clouds of white smoke billowing out the back. She said, "Looks like it needs some kind of pollution control device." Those words spurred a new thought. I reached under the hood and pulled off the PCV hose. Problem solved immediately. It had been sucking oil directly into the intake manifold via a bad PCV valve.

tan man · #9 08-31-2004, 06:41 PM

when going over hard bumps in the road i heard something ratling loose in the passenger door. took the door panel off and found a screw and a bolt laying on the bottom of the door frame. looked all around and found where they came from, noticed that the window was now nice and tight. put everything back together. drove over bumps and the noise is still there. tried to localize it, definitely coming from the passenger door. then a thought occured, it may be coming from under the convertible top lid. openned it and found some of the top bows have room to clank around in there. put some towels in there to eliminate...drove around...noise is still there. in a "eureka" moment i decided to look in the glove box.. ahah! loose junk rattling around in there. took it out. drove around. still have the noise. now i think it may be the passenger door is not snug up against the body when closed. looked for and adjustment but not sure yet how to go about it.

bhatt · #10 08-31-2004, 08:05 PM

tan man,

Try applying masking tape to areas you think are rattling (metal against metal) or padding them somehow. One trick I have used with loose/misaligned doors is to shut them with a towel in the opening to "cushion" the two parts. If the rattle goes away, you know it's the mating of those two parts. I find that thin towels like shop rags work better than thick ones.

Neal

plink49 · #11 08-31-2004, 09:07 PM

This isn't a reply to the thread specifically, but I just couldn't help but reply to "Kerry Edwards".....man, I don't envy you with that moniker at this particular point in time! You might consider some kind of disclaimer after your name

kramlavud · #12 08-31-2004, 09:08 PM

Door adjustment is not obvious but it's very easy. Think about it for a minute. How could anyone on an assembly line install a door and have it fit perfectly if there is not a way to adjust it up, down and sideways. Here is how I do it. Put a few inches of masking tape on the body at the top and bottom and leading edge of the door strike. This will provide a reference for the present location of the strike. Loosen the 2 screws that secure the strike to the body, but keep them snug. Move the strike inwards about 1/16" by tapping the strike easily with the wrench. Take care to keep the strike horizonatlly aligned by referencing it's location relative to the masking tape. Tighten the bolts, leave the tape in place, and drive off; listen for the sound. If absent, then you solved the problem, and you can remove the tape. If it persists, then again try moving the strike inward a very little bit. If this dosen't work, then look elsewhere for the noise.

Good Luck,
Mark

stevebfl · #13 08-31-2004, 09:34 PM

Real technicians know better than to work on their own cars (bg). One's own car will always bite one. I haven't worked on my own car in 20 years.

But I can remember one time when I was about twenty I broke down while cruisin Miami Beach one night. I had a 56 Chevy and my dad had bought me a 350hp 327 crate motor for my graduation from highschool. It was a deal, we lived in Seattle and I got the motor if I drove the car to Florida after graduation. My dad knew if he got my car to Florida I would eventually stay (he worked fro UAL and I flew back and forth to Seattle from Miami numerous times in the next few years,13 bucks 1st class space available of course, even worked for Boeing one summer but my car was still in Miami and dad was right).

Anyway, that motor screamed and over the years I tore up atleast 20 differentials; the original 56 unit just couldn't take it. My Muncy four speed never wimpered. So we went, hitched a ride 40 miles south, to another car and a spare diff and off we went. Had that diff in by about 4:00AM and off we go only to find out that the problem still existed. I don't remember whether we actually fixed it there; been a long time but it turned out to be a front wheel bearing totally failed.

G-Benz · #14 08-31-2004, 11:24 PM

Okay you techs out there, you've used "(bg)" in your replies...what the heck does THAT mean?

Arthur Dalton · #15 08-31-2004, 11:31 PM

Ah ...yes , the BG mystery..
BG is for BIG GRIN ..as an expression of Humor..
...and we all know this post will come with many,many humorous stories ...propably go on forever...[bg]