My new project
 

Well my new project is almost the newest car I have ever bought LOL I am now the new owner of a 1990 Mercedes 300E 2.6. It's really a nice car, just has a lot of cleaning needed as well as a little pieces fixed up. The car will crank and not start, the PO had mention the neutral safety switch being a malfunctioning issue so I will start there. Chances are this will become the better halfs commuter to save $ on gas

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OVP, NSS, Coil, cap and rotor, wires. Start there you will probably find out whats causing the no start condition.

my car is a 94 w124 so I'm not sure if its exactly the same, but when my neutral safety switch was bad the car would not crank at all. I would turn the key and absolutely no noises like a completely dead battery

Neutral safety switch will keep it from cranking. Definitely do some quick checks of the ignition and fuel delivery.

If you have a timing light, the fastest check is to clamp it to the primary wire on the distributor and see if you get a steady stream of flashes or if it's skipping a few beats.

Have an assistant listen for a hum from the fuel pump when the key is first turned (it's by the back wheels) to get a quick feeling for fuel delivery.

Then start tracking down current flow and/or replacing parts in whichever system is the most non-functional.

Won't hurt to find a pick-n-pull that can supply a few key relays and modules. Nor would it hurt for you to research those terms used in macdrone's post.

-CTH

Well I went under the car and the NSS was a wiring mess... I cleaned it up and all works now. WOO HOOO!!! My guess was crossed wires and exposed connections (To rain and such) Car drives great on the freeway, a little bit of a rough idle but nod bad overall. I have started to make a list of what is needed!

Well Day 2 of playing around with the new ride. Got home after work an pulled it in the garage to start getting a list of items needed. I ended up cleaning up wiring, reattaching a bunch of little items, finding places that need attention. I also did a quick clean on it to see just how bad it really is. After finding a couple dollars change, a ring, some fireworks and many other odd and gross things she cleans up nicely. I will do a full detail after I get the mechanical items all worked out. However most of what was wrong so far has been an easy fix and just loose or disconnected items. While there is a long way to go I have high hopes for this car! Now on to the pics.... And yes I had to take the side by side with the other Benz haha

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While cleaning
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Some more pics
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Here is a before and after of the door... Any tips for cleaning duct tape? there is some left and I am all ears
Before
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After
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May I please ask how much was the purchase price of the car?
Regards, Eric

Does the horn work? Whatever hit the grill may have taken it out...Can't tell by the pictures. What about the condenser? Whatever hit the grill to damage it must have been pretty heavy...

Looks like a great project though. Biggest thing I see is the ding in the rear trunk lid...Bumpers and grill are easy to find.

Horn works fine, however the driver side electric fan now hits some screw heads and wobbles. Will need to replace that. The AC didn't work before the wreck, but there is no damage to the condenser.

Where is a good place to find the grill and such? the yards here seem to be out of the E class.

My friend here in Wichita, KS has a salvage yard with about 10 W124s and could get it to you cheaply enough.

google
Euroasian Auto Wichita

I have the headlamp assembly; its yours for $30 shipped.

i have a nice e class grille 86-92 with the 500e black inserts...looks nice

PM on the way!

email sent

Well I went and pulled the cluster out, the gear had walked out like many others here. I pused that back in and the ODO/Trip now work WOO HOO!!! But now the ABS light is on... Wasn't before.... I took it all back apart and traced the wires and such. Nothing was pinched or poked.. guess the problem just came at that time... Oh joy

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What does OVP mean?

Overvoltage protection relay. A search will find thousands of threads...literally.

The ABS light on is #1 sign its toast. Get a new one and put that at rest.

Car being hard to start is another one. If the car starts quickly the OVP is probably fine.

Unfortunately not always. Both my cars did not exhibit poor starting, yet the OVP was dead. If the light is on and the ABS does work, replace it.

Guess I will go look at that now. Thanks! This is located behind the battery correct?

Went out to check it.. Yup fuse is blown, replaced that and the ABS light is gone WOO HOO! She idles a little better also, still have some work to get it smooth though.


So I have another question, my temp gauge inside the car is black or reads 136. When I first start it up it drops from 136 down to 111 and climbs back before going blank. Is that the computer going out or ?

Good.

I personally would still replace the unit since it happens to every 124 regardless. Just because the fuse isn't blown doesn't mean the relay is perfect. Microfractures in the solder occur just the same as it does in the cruise control relay/amplifier, the multipurpose + combination relay etc...It's the age that does it.

Just replace it and have peace of mind. My 2c.

Ps2cho, I'll grant that in the ideal weather that you enjoy in the O.C., an M103 will start fairly easily even with a non-functioning OVP, but in most other places, especially when the weather is cooler, the car will be harder to start.

And when are you finally gonna make it to one of our drag racing days?

Colorado220, was your car harder to start before you replaced the fuse? What were the weather conditions? Glad things are working good.

I like the peace of mind of keeping my money where it belongs (in my pocket) and only spending it when necessary. ABS light gone, easy starting and running good equals good OVP. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. I replaced only the fuse in my 89's OVP last fall to cure it's hard starting issue and the car is still running like a top to this day. Spend your money where it's needed, on the car's other issues and save the rest for a rainy day.
Regards, Eric

It took a little bit to start before, yes. Weather has been hot/humid (for me anyways) low 90's with periodic short t-storms. And I am all for keeping $$ in my pockets. I am trying to fix as much as possible with what I already have. I will start to scour the scrap yards soon.

your temp gauge issue might be from your outside temp sensor. check to see if it was damaged from whatever hit the grill etc. Check if this sensor was pinched. if your car is like mine, that sensor is behind your front license plate

That is where I am going to look first. I just thought I would ask.

Did some more on the Benz today. New belt, new tension adjuster( man that was a PITA), cleaned front of the motor (turns out that it's not black under there LOL), and a quick oil change. Also looked into fixing the tear in the rear roof.. Found an arrow up there... What else is hidden is this car? LOL

I also was wondering how to test the AC compressor real quick. Is there a way to get the compressor to spin under the hood as a quick test? Just want to know before I go on Thanks

I have another question however, what is the piece mounted to the exhaust? My guess is smog??
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EGR valve

Put a can of freon into your ac, if the pressure is low, ac compressor will not run (to prevent damage to the compressor) .....

"Freon" is a possible problem here. I think a 90 is still an R12 car if it hasn't been converted to a newer refrigerant yet. Don't just throw a can of refrigerant in until you know what the car needs.There are differences in the fittings to prevent mixing the two but sometimes people put an adapter fitting on without doing a proper conversion to a newer refrigerant. R134a and R12 are not compatible and some of the "substitutes" for R12 are junk and will cause you trouble. There are many who believe that all of the "substitutes" are junk. I've just been doing without air cond rather than deal with the headache.
Regards, Eric

Never had a car with AC, thought I might give it a try.

Hmm.. I am used to domestics where the EGR is on the back of the block near the firewall. Thanks

I forgot about the r12 thing. If the car is r12, don't put a can of r134 in it....sorry about that...

there is a sticker above the radiator on mine that describes the correct type of refrigerant. does it have one?

I know it has the 134 connections but have not seen the sticker for the conversion.

That's a classic sign of a home done "conversion". It may not have been done correctly. Be careful..... proceed with caution.
Regards, Eric

If I do it I will just do it over...completely. Either way I go. Figure it's safer that way

How do you pull the instrument cluster out? I realize my trip odometer is shot, it won't count trip kilometers anymore. But its stuck and just make a clicking noise every 10 meters. Click... 10 meters... Click ... 10 meters ... Click

Is it hard to pull the cluster?

Before pulling it out, drive the car around 20mph while holding the trip reset for about 2/10ths of a mile. Sometimes it will just get stuck right before it can engage.

Disclaimer: Never do this if your odo/trip meter is functional. This is a sure way to reduce the life of your unit over time. Since you already have issues, you got nothing to lose.

Is this a W124 thing or could this work on my W123? When I reset the trip odometer it will go .1 a mile then stop again.

Sorry the hijack.

OK I have got to try that. I can live with out the trip meter, but the Tick Tick Tick... noise is driving my passengers nuts :) I have gotten used to it already.

No, it's easy to do. Just need to make the hook tool or buy/borrow them. However I may try that holding it down trick also

What is the "holding it down trick"? I must have missed that. (I need to get to work on my fuel gauge.)
Regards, Eric

I was referring to "ps2cho" and what he said to try, sorry about the confusion.

Today was a good day, I noticed that when I locked the truck that there was an air hissing noise. The gas door vacuum was off due to a broken nipple. Fixed that and all the doors lock now with the simple turn of a key WOO HOOOO!!!!!

WOO HOO!! Some of the new (used) parts came in today. Sadly one light was broken during shipping (The box looked like hell). But everything else looks great!

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Oh man does the car look better now. Tonight I put on the new headlights/fogs, grill and correct rear view mirror. I love it

Tear down
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After
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The new and the broken
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The correct mirror in place, much better. Old with the old, in with the correct!
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No pictures, but now all the windows work!! WOO HOO!! However the headgasket is coming up :(

She's looking good man!!! Cleaned up VERY nicely!!! Brings me back to last november when I bought my 91 300E 2.6.. The best part is cleaning them up, replacing small things and finding all the unexpected knick nacs here and there. Thats awesome you found a couple bucks!! All I found was pesos XD

Keep posting pics and keep us updated! :thumbsup:

Will do, I totally forgot about your 91. How's it doing?

Well the wiper was having issues. Took it out and apart (Thanks to all of the great information on this site) re-lubed it all and it works great! Little by little it's getting there!

Looks like the NSS went south, also while in there I found that there were NO BUSHINGS AT ALL!!!! What the heck?? The PO had just tightened everything up to make up for slack, now I know why my reverse lights don't work.